We'll lay in the lawn and we'll be good
by xLittleWingsx
Summary: [ZA/S4/BETHLY] The prison never fell, Hershel was alive, the people were never separated and then there was the two, picking up their paces each step at a time, learning, accepting and embracing what their hearts was admitting.
1. The normal of our lives

**Hi everyone! This is my very first Bethyl's fic here. I've read a lot stories from others and I got to say you guys are amazing! Thanks for keeping Bethyl alive. The first chapter here is just a long intro of what's going on at the prison of my story.** **Set in Season 4.**

 **And pardon for my bad English as it isn't my first language...in this story, Beth & Daryl's relationship will be progress slowlyyyy like just how they are. Awkward and more awkwardness. **

**Rating for the fic is just for the future plot (wink)**

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 _When words run dry, he does not try, nor do I._

 _We are on par. He just is, I just am and we just are._

 ** _\- Lang Leav "He and I"._**

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The baby's cries echoed down the whole of cellblock C and a soft humming followed by, immediately calmed down little Judith. Warm summer breeze was seeping through the high iron-barred windows of the block indicating the sun would be up soon. Beth hushed as she lay the baby down for a quick change of fresh diaper.

"We're running out of your diappy soon, Judy".

Beth was mentally taking down notes to double remind the supply-run team on that. Baby diapers were getting harder to loot and she had been considering to start using the more traditional way of a cloth diaper. But that would require a lot more changing routine and washing throughout the day although it was not like she minded. Everyone got a job to do, just like Hershel always reminded them. And babysitting Judith was her job.

The prison had became a much peaceful place ever since the fall of Woodbury. They heard about how the town had burned down, most likely done by the Governor himself after a manic outburst of shooting down his own people - after they had attacked the prison, which fortunately, not too much damage was done to the inner zone or any serious casualties. One of the tower got destroyed and the front gate was crushed over but they were able to fix it back. A few men and women were injured by cuts and minor bullet wounds on the shoulder and arms, but Hershel was able to patch them up in no time.

The broken gates were removed and replaced by a makeshift metal shipping container doors that Abraham had found along one of the abandoned warehouses his group had stumbled upon during one of the supply run. How they had managed to tear it down and carried all the way back was still a mystery. It was a tall and sturdy big piece of metal, perfect as a door and protection against the intruding walkers. But it did required more strength to maneuver it as compared to the old fenced gate. Carl had been pretty positive and grinning on how that he would be growing some arm muscles soon.

They had taken in the other survivors of Woodbury after the incident of the attack. A school bus full of men and women, elderly, children and a few teenagers close to Carl's & Beth's age. Glenn, Tyreese, Michonne & Daryl had helped to clear out the rest of block D, secured it and shifted extra furnitures in for the people to live in. The newcomers lived in cellblock D while the usual gang lived in block C. No one was allowed into their cellblock unless necessary or permission was granted. It had always been their number one rule in the prison. Even after Rick had decided to step down and passed his leadership to Daryl, Daryl still stick to Rick's rules. Strictly.

And of course Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Tara had long moved into cellblock C with them a couple of months ago. Glenn had found their group when he was stranded out there for a few days due to a broken down car and they had been trustworthy enough for Glenn to lead them back to the prison with him. Daryl had been the one to stop them at the gate and asked the three questions Rick used to lead; "How many walkers have u killed?", "How many people have you killed?" and "Why?" Abraham had told them he had murdered people in retaliation of some indiscretion against his family and he had lost them after his wife tired to runaway with their children afterwards. Since then, they had offered to help out a lot around the prison, almost likely to show their appreciation and usefulness, especially during a supply run. Even Daryl had absentmindedly gave Abraham a few pats on the back every time after a successful run. Boy, that man could carry a cow and no one would bat an eyelid.

There came the virus as well not long after taking in the rest of Woodbury people. Rick and Hershel had suspected it to be from the pigs, most likely a swine flu. After the mother pig had suspiciously fallen ill and died, people were starting to fall sick. It had started out from a cough, chills, fever and things just escalated quickly in such a confined space. They had used cellblock A as an quarantine zone and all the sick people were to be supervised there. Daryl had lead a small group with him to search for medicines in hoping to stop the spreading. Despite the risk of getting infected and a worried Maggie protesting against his idea, Hershel had been the one staying in and taking care of the sick. Beth had consoled her sister to trust their daddy and believing in him, reminding her how they were risking their life everyday and every hour in this damned world no matter what they do.

Then both Sasha and Glenn had started to show symptoms of the flu, it was a total miracle they had managed to pull it through. But also they had lost people, again. Which including Patrick, the one boy Carl had just started to grow a bond with and then he was gone. They had dug holes and buried the people who had passed on from the virus in the backyard. Everyday, the reminding residents would bring flowers to the graves and to make sure to keep the area neat and tidy as a form of respect.

Things had gotten a lot smoother after everything they had been through. It had been almost a month since any accident had occurred. Rick had replaced his gun with farming gloves and settled in to do farming in his own impressive vegetable and fruits garden. Sprouting from carrot to tomato to berries, he worked all day out there along with Hershel to keep the garden growing healthily. He had been devastated by the infected pigs he used to care for and Michonne had jokingly comforted him that she hadn't been fond of pork anyway.

The life at the prison had became as normal as one could ever believe.

The cellblock was slowly waking up by the time Beth had finished dressing both Judith and her for the day. She had her hair up in her usual long ponytail and a front braid that crowned around her head to meet the ponytail at the back. It was the neatest and easiest way to keep her hair away while doing chores and also from the humid summer of Georgia. She had long lost track of the time and date, not like it matter anymore. Judging by how the heat of the sun was blazing through the clear sky, she had assumed it to had to be around June by now.

"Good morning ladies," Carol greeted brightly at the bottom of the stairs as she stretched out her arms to hold Judith.

"Morning to you too, Carol. Judy says morning too," Beth poked Judith's cheek playfully and the baby laughed, trying to grab onto her finger with her little chubby ones.

"I'll take over the little princess now, you go on to grab your own breakfast. We are having the leftover roasted venison from last night. Savor it while it last".

Beth nodded in appreciation, wiped her hands from the baby's drool and headed outside of the block. A group residents had already gathered around the kitchen hut that they had built using wooden bamboos and straws for the roof, solid cement for the cooking counter and a few picnic tables made out of random wood pieces. The aromatic smell of the venison was making her stomach grumble.

Karen was standing behind the counter over at the big stove, heating up the venison for everyone. The warm weather and the heat from the stove was making her drenched in sweat as she had a towel hung around her neck and every minute she would wipe her face with a corner of it. She looked up when Beth approached, a wide smile spread across her sweaty face.

"Hey morning, girl".

"Hi Karen"', Beth greeted, winced at the heat of the stove when she neared the counter.

"It's sure is hot isn't it," Karen laughed, scooping up a big portion of venison onto a clean plate and handed it over to Beth, "make sure you drink plenty of water after this".

Beth stared at the plate and was going to protest it was too much for her, Karen raised her brow and gave her a nod. Smiling in defeat, she took the plate and thanked her. She turned her back to walk to a less crowded table when she heard the kids calling out her name. They waved frantically, inviting her to join them at the table. Beth couldn't had been more thankful to the kids.

It had been several months since they had last taken in any outsiders for sanctuary as the numbers had been growing and they had decided there were way enough mouth to feed as for now. Majority of them except for the elderly and kids, they all were assigned to a job. Some were on guard duties taking different shifts throughout the day, some at fence clearing of walkers and random jobs like cooking, laundry, anything that needed to be fixed at the prison. Only a small handful were allowed on supply run when necessary as the main run team had preferred to have people they trust a hundred percent to have their backs.

The last time they had allowed Bob, one of the recent lone survivor Daryl and Glenn had saved, on a run with them, he almost slipped down a roof and losing his life by the force of the walkers pulling at his backpack which he couldn't let go off when the others commanded him to do so. Turned out he was trying to save a bottle of rum instead of his own life and his confession of him used to be an alcoholic had Daryl raging and threatening to kick Bob out if he ever gotten his hands on any alcohol while being near his people.

Beth still felt as awkward as she was since the first day these people had arrived. She was only close to some of them like Sasha, Tyreese, Karen, Rosita and of course her boyfriend, Zach. Zach was a few years older than her and the only one that was closest to her age. She guessed that was pretty much why they were able to click and bond with each other better. Beth liked Carl, but he was much younger and she treated him like a brother while Rick was like her second father or something. They were a close family.

When the world had ended, she never knew how lonely she would felt even though she still got her family and a _growing_ family with her. Jimmy, her ex-boyfriend who had died during the burning incident of the farm where they were overrun by a herd of walkers - her own mother was among one of them...and she was shot down right in front of her. Beth was heartbroken and was in a state of depression afterwards. She had tried slitting her wrist and succeeded, which resulted Maggie meltdown with her. Time heals the heart but she was still struggling with everyday. The scar was still visible under all the bracelets she had always worn to cover it. And when she met Zach, she sensed a small hope of a little comfort, a little warmth.

To be able to be held by another in such a world, it was all she needed. No, she did not loved Zach, but he was her only comfort when she needed. She hadn't told him about what happened to the farm or her suicidal attempt, she felt there wasn't a need to. Zach was always the one blabbering on about himself, trying to let her know more about him. He had asked her stuff but she always only replied a short answer or avoided the topic completely. She just needed a shoulder to lean on and sometimes small kisses to ease her insecurities. But Zach always had been a talkative one, he annoyed her at times.

"And then Lizzie caught the little mouse! We named her Marshmallow because it is soft and white like a marshmallow!" Mika exclaimed as she took in a mouthful of her dry cereal mixed in with a bit of water.

Beth swallowed dryly, feeling her now half-filled stomach hurling at what the kids just told her. A _mouse_? They caught and kept one as a pet?! That was just one of thing she feared most of, as much as a walker trying to bite a chunk of flesh off her. She wondered if she needed to share this info to Carol. The last time they had any animals on the farm, the pigs were infected and spreading swine flu to the residents. Her mind was busy reciting all sort of scenarios that could happen and what she would need to convince the kids about letting the mouse go - when suddenly an arm wounded around her waist and she shrieked.

"Zach! I told you not to do that!" She smacked at her boyfriend's shoulder and he just laughed.

"Morning my beautiful," Zach kissed the side of her neck, not minding the kids who were gawking at the couple.

Beth was flustered and pushed him away to stand up immediately. Bringing her empty plate with her, she walked awkwardly away from the kids and Zach followed right behind her, teasing at how she was being all shy about it. Beth might have called and labeled Zach as her boyfriend but she wasn't too fond of showing affection with him openly. Not like Maggie and Glenn. _Definitely_ not like Maggie and Glenn.

"Good morning, Daryl!"

"Hey, Daryl!"

"Morning, Mr. Dixon".

The people greeted him along the way as Daryl approached the kitchen. A kid, Luke even went up to him and had his small hand up for a handshake, to thank him for hunting down the deer for them yesterday. They wouldn't be enjoying the delicious slices of venison if it wasn't for him. Daryl awkwardly nodded his head at the greetings and shook the little hand held up for him. Luke beamed up at him and ran off with a smile.

Daryl had stepped in as a leader in Rick's place and he had done a hella great job at that. When Rick had confessed he wished to step down at one of the earlier council meeting about a month back, no one said anything else. And right away Hershel asked if Daryl wished to take that spot instead. He was reluctant at first, but when he looked at Rick, the eyes of that man was tired, full of regrets and almost pleading, Daryl agreed on it. He knew Rick needed a break. Everyone understood how much burden Rick had carried with him ever since Atlanta, and losing his wife from giving birth to his newborn both at the same time, he was a broken man. Not forgetting the period of time where he started seeing hallucinations of Lori everywhere he went, he had almost went insane.

"Hey Daryl, we heading out soon?" Zach sudden question made Beth turned to look at him.

"Yea, out in 'bout twenty. Remember your gun".

"Yes sir!"

Daryl nodded and grabbed himself a plate of the venison. Karen had gave him an extra large portion of it that she had saved for him. The leader deserved as much extra protein as possible in order to keep the prison going. And everyone counted on him. Never was a man of much words, he grunted out a thanks and popped a big chunk into his mouth, giving her a thumb-up.

"You're heading out for the run today?" Beth asked Zach, her wide blue eyes looking a little uneasy.

"Yepp, Daryl had agreed to take me along with the others. We should be back latest by this evening if everything goes well. Are you worried for me?" She heard the teasing in his voice.

Beth looked at him and away. Heaving a sigh, she replied him.

"Not at all. You will come back fine, Zach".

Zach immediate instinct was to lean in for a kiss, a goodbye kiss. But Beth moved her face away before he could taste her lips. A puzzled look spread on his face.

"What, not even a goodbye kiss, Beth?" He sounded disappointed like a puppy who was told to stay out in the rain.

"Nope, because you _will_ come back fine. You will, Zach. This is not a goodbye."

Beth Greene do not say goodbye anymore.

Instead on the lips, she kissed him at the corner of his mouth. She smiled sweetly at him and walked away before he could say anything else.

"Damn romance novel".

She heard Daryl snorted and almost laughed out herself. Feeling a little lighter, she started to small skip in her steps as she made her way back into the cellblock. But she stopped in her track when she heard a women voice.

"Hey Daryl".

She wasn't sure what it was that caused her to pause in her step, retracted her footing and turned her head to that whatever sorcery it was. A lean women with long dark hair stood herself in front of Daryl, one hand on her hip and a folded piece of paper in her other out stretched hand towards him. Her voice was in a tone a bit high-pitched than normal and her body language, one might just mistook her in an attempt of flirting...if she was. Or was she-

"I heard from Sasha that you will be heading out for a run today, so I had prepared a list of stuff I hope you can help me find...you wouldn't mind, right?"

Beth subconsciously frowned at that, an uncomfortable twisting started to form in the pit of her stomach. That woman's speech was making her feeling uneasy, almost annoyed. And hell, she couldn't even remember what was her name.

She watched Daryl shrugged his shoulder with a slight tilt of his head and he took the piece of paper from that woman's hand. As if it was the most normal thing to do and if Daryl Dixon was not the most private person, the woman found her hand laying on his bicep, giving it a firm squeeze as a way of saying her thanks, he flinched at her touch and shook off her hand before turning and walking away.

The way she talked to Daryl and how she had put it as if he was the only one going on the run by himself, asking _specifically_ for _his_ favor, Beth couldn't mark out what it was but she might had just started to dislike her for whatever reason and had absolutely not a single clue as of why.


	2. Unintentionally Intentions

**Hi everyone! Chapter 2 was finished up sooner than I had expected haha I guess I am really liking the flow of the story from chapter 1. In this chapter you will get to know the insights of Beth a bit more and some of her past.**

 **Chapter 3 won't be updated this quickly but I am predicting a really cute chapter next! I am still not entirely sure of the plot I am heading to, so please, if you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know in the reviews! Thank you so much for reading!**

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The rest of the day passed by horribly long. Beth had been dunking the piece of cloth back and forth from the water bucket and wrinkling it dry for the fourth time. Her mind wasn't with her all at. Her hands had turned into a light shade of red and creases were forming. Blowing out a single strand of hair that had fallen down her face, she stood up and stretched herself to hang the cloth up on the washing line. It finally occurred to her that her hands were sore all over. Putting her palms close together, she blew onto her skin, soothing out the tingling tenderness.

Her blue eyes scanned around the yard she was at, everyone seemed to be busy with something. She looked over at tower one and Maggie was standing up there, the rifle never leaving her hands and she had her eyes on the scope every two minutes, checking for any signs of the returning vehicles from the supply run team.

Five hours had passed since the supply team had left the prison. The sky was already turning orange indicating the sun would be setting in soon. It was never easy for anyone when someone had to go on a run. Especially for Maggie. Glenn was always in the supply team and every time he had to leave, Maggie would hug him so tightly, whispering words into his ears and making sure he would drag his ass back no matter what.

Beth envied their relationship. They were the prison most affectionate couple and neither one could seem to leave each other for long. Even with Hershel around, her sister and Glenn wouldn't hold back to show their love out in the open. When they had first announced about their marriage, everyone had ran up to give hugs and handshakes to them. Carol and Sasha had helped to throw an impromptu _wedding_ dinner that night; a simple campfire of roasted rabbits, toasting of expired juices and flowers the kids had picked from the yard to have it thrown over the heads of the newlyweds. Hershel had stepped in as the role of the pastor, making his speech and the couple vowed their eternal love for each other. Beth had performed songs for them, causing Maggie to tear up at her little sister beautiful voice and no one was bothered about the groaning of the few walkers at the fences. It was the most wonderful night they had since arriving at the prison. Once could hardly find any occasion to celebrate anymore.

Averting her eyes back to the piles of laundry she still needed to wash, Beth started to hum a little melody to make herself less distracted. She wasn't worried about the run team not making back or anything, she _knew_ they would. With Daryl and Michonne, the prison most capable dual, they always make it back safe and sound. Even if Rick wasn't leading the run team anymore, they still got Daryl Dixon. That man who was almost invincible to anyone. No one would ever have doubts in his leadership skill.

 _Daryl Dixon._ Beth's forehead creased at his name. Her thoughts rewinding back to earlier that morning, that woman, that flirtatious speech , that unnecessary touches. _Her hand on his arm._ Beth shook away her thoughts and twisted the fabric in her hands a little harder than she had intended.

Mentally reminding herself that it was not any of her intention to seek out the woman's name or where the hell did she came from, but she just happened to bump into Carol and _casually_ asked her about it. Upon hearing her name was Lilly Chambler, a survivor from Woodbury, Beth couldn't help but frowned. And again, it was not and _never_ part of her intention, she had dug deeper from Carol that there have had been talks about Lilly used to be with the Governor in a romantic kind of way before Andrea's arrival. She frowned even harder at that. When Carol had asked her what was it about, Beth just laughed off awkwardly, stating dryly she just wanted to know the people better.

Beth would be lying if she were to say she wasn't distracted by her thoughts of Lilly throughout the day. She could not mark out why or how was she getting so agitated by this woman that she hadn't even spoken before to. Could it be due the fact, she was from Woodbury _and_ had a thing with the Governor, so it was and should be normal for her to be worried about if she was trying to seduce anyone of her close family, with bad intentions. Even if it was Daryl Dixon, the one man with the least possibilities Lilly could ever hook up with. And yeah, Beth just convinced herself that.

Beth was probably the only person in cellblock C who had spoken less than ten words with Daryl since their first meeting at the farm. It was always a few grunts here and there from Daryl typically or when he had asked to carry Judith from her. Which also, only happened once. She admitted she was scared of Daryl when she first met him. The way he talked and strutting an attitude that could gone off the radar anytime. Like a dangerous time bomb. But he had changed tremendously over the long period of time they had to survive through together before settling at the prison. She had came to notice that he was a trustworthy man with a big heart. From a reckless redneck Rick had not once but twice pointed a gun at, to a capable leader who was taking care of everyone at the prison. And the brotherly bond between Rick and Daryl over time was mesmerizing.

Not just how she couldn't find anything in particular to talk to that man, but also she doubt anything she said would ever interest him. Beth Greene was a nobody. Unlike her older sister Maggie, who was a strong and talented fighter, Beth was just a babysitter. She had never been on the supply run or often anywhere near the fences, clearing of walkers. She was always the one having to look after Judith, washing laundry and attending some classes with the kids. Beth was also still in the midst of learning cooking from Carol and Karen, hoping to make herself more useful eventually.

She couldn't think of why would Daryl Dixon ever wanted to talk to her either. She wasn't Michonne, Maggie, Sasha or Carol. Especially Carol, whom Beth suspected there was something going on between Daryl and her. They were all capable women and she was just, Beth Greene. Her name just do not fit in with them.

Sure she could had asked Glenn or Maggie to bring her along for a run but she decided not to. Beth was afraid of being a burden to them or anyone out there. She wouldn't be able to live by if she ever caused anymore of her family hurt again by her action. Not since her suicidal attempt. Everyday, her fingers would graze across the scar gently when she woke up in the morning, reminding herself she was still here, breathing and very well alive. The prison was still standing strong, her family was still with her and baby Judith was growing up bigger each every passing day.

By the time Beth had finished her laundry chore, she walked back to her own cell, yawning and stretching out sore limps along the way. She pulled open the curtain by the entrance, not bothering to close it back and she flopped herself onto her bed. Pulling out a worn-out notebook from under her pillow, she started scribbling on a new blank page. She never had the habit of writing a diary before the turn but she had eventually started on it when Maggie had brought her back the notebook she happened to pick up from a run. From random thoughts to what used to be her dreams and ambitions, she wrote them all down.

She could hear the people moving and talking outside of her cell clearly, so much for living in a confined space with perfect echoes everywhere you go. She got lost in her writing and did not noticed a shadow was standing near her cell, by the wall. Jumping in surprise, she stared at the figure with widened eyes.

"Oh, hi Daryl ", her voice sounded higher than she had intended to.

The man stared at her, almost hesitant to speak and shifted his gaze to the ground, "hey".

Daryl was fidgeting with his hands, his eyes stayed glued to the ground but not moving from the wall he was leaning against. Beth started to feel a churning twist in her stomach.

"What is it...?" She braved herself to ask.

This time, Daryl looked at her. A thumb at his mouth as he chewed on it, a clear sign of his whenever he was anxious about something. Beth surprised herself mentally when she realized her observant of Daryl Dixon.

"It was Zach," he looked down again, "he didn't make it".

Beth blinked blankly at him. His words was just slowly sinking into her brain and she made a motion to sit up from her bed, shifting her legs over the edge, leaving them hanging there. Quietly, she spoke up.

"Was he...dead?"

Daryl nodded.

"What happened?"

"A-shelf fell on me, I got stuck. Zach helped me but he got bitten 'n dragged down 'fore I could grab him".

"Okay...".

She felt his eyes still on her when he finished talking. She stared down at her own dangling feet, her shoulder moved up and down from heaving a sigh, pausing for a few seconds before pushing herself to stand up. Moving her feet to the desk, she reached out for the vintage tally Glenn had gotten her a few weeks ago, one to keep track of how many accident-free days at the prison. It was more of a decorative item Glenn had thought for her to add into her collections of random items in her cell.

She was clearly saddened by the news Daryl had just told her, not because she had lost her boyfriend but more of losing someone _again._ No matter who they were, as long as they had been part of the survival together, they belonged in this one big family. Beth might had not loved Zach but she still cared for him like she would for any of her family.

He had been the person she had counted on during the days she felt lonelier than she usually was. He had been the shoulder she leaned on when she needed some comfort. As selfishly as it might had sounded, Beth needed Zach more for herself than he yearned for her.

Beth loved her mother, Annette. She was the closest kin to her even more than Maggie or Hershel since she was little. Annette had been the only person she could shared her feelings openly and honestly with, but after her passing, Beth had been emptied from the inside out. And not long after Rick's group arrived at the farm, they had accidentally found out about the barn full of walkers. Annette was among one of them when Shane shot her down, and every other close relatives, neighbors and friends she ever had. Then before she knew it, the farm was on fire, burning everything down into the ground. She lost Jimmy along the way and she felt she had lost everything in this world. She couldn't feel any emotions, couldn't eat or sleep. Her mind was blank and so was her heart. She went into a deep state of shock and in a bout of hopelessness, she tried to kill herself. Maggie was devastated and tried all she could to help her little sister, telling her their mother would not want Beth to do this. Beth then realized that she wanted to live on for the sake of both Maggie and Hershel.

When upon meeting Zach, Beth almost thought she could open her heart once again. She wanted to feel loved and had someone to be able to give her the warmth she needed. Not because she was a sister, a daughter, a friend but as who she was. Beth Greene wanted to be loved and be able to love back wholeheartedly. But as time passed by, she realized the love she had for Zach wasn't the romantic kind of a way like he had for her. She hardly felt comfortable when they were kissing or in a close embrace. She was awkwardly uneasy when people where taunting her on how cute she and Zach were.

Beth had looked up to Maggie since she was a kid. She knew how much Maggie cared for her and she wanted to prove her right that she was all grown up now, was able to take care of herself and she was having her own little happiness with Zach. Just like Maggie had Glenn. She might had used Zach as an excuse to prove her maturity, but she needed that little selfishness to show Maggie she could live her life her own way. She wasn't the little suicidal Beth Greene anymore. She was a full grown adult.

"What?"

Beth questioned Daryl a little too harshly when she noticed he was still staring at her, observing her as if in carefulness, making sure she wouldn't be breaking apart or crumbling down at any moment. She hated that look people gave her, looking at her like she was made of glass. Always expecting and waiting for little Beth Greene to shed her tears. Just how much she had to prove to people that she was a lot stronger than she looked?

Daryl only slightly shook his head, his eyes lingered on hers a little longer before looking away. It was now Beth's turn, almost glaring at him as she took a few steps closer, determined to prove she wasn't as weak as they think she was.

"I don't cry anymore, Daryl," her voice breaking the short silent, "I'm just glad that I got to know him".

"Yea, I know..." Daryl replied softy.

He looked back up at her and down again, his shoulder was hung low and his face was dark.

"Are you okay?"

"Um hm. Just tired of losing people, that's all...".

Before Beth could control herself, if she had any control left of her own body anymore, her legs had closed the rest of the distance between them both. Her arms wounded around his waist and her cheek pressed against his chest. She felt Daryl tensed and she hugged him tighter, as if assuring him it was okay to hug her back or accept her embrace. His hands moved lightly to grasp at both of her elbows and she braced herself to be pushed away but he did not.

"I'm glad that I didn't say goodbye. I hate goodbyes." She whispered softly, shifting her head gently to rest back against his chest.

"Me too..." She heard him said.

Every second in their embrace felt like an hour had passed by. When Beth pulled away slowly, almost missing his warmth already, she dared herself to steal a few glances at his face while he did the same, before giving him an awkward smile and they separated from each other completely. She turned her back to him and focused on adjusting the tally she was doing a while ago before she intruded his personal space.

Daryl left her cell afterward, heading back out of the cellblock to check on the fence perimeter. Little did they know, they were both flustered to the tip of their ears.

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 **I know Lilly Chambler was Tara's sister in the show but they have no relation to each other in this story. And I hope I had managed to describe the complication of Beth & Zach's relationship well. Please don't hate Beth on that. I adored and loved her character so much that I am missing her terribly in the show. I am hoping to write a fic based on her POV mostly and let readers walk in her shoes. Beth is someone almost every girl could relate to (at least for me).**


	3. Pookie's Cookies

**Merry Christmas in advance everyone! I'm so glad to finish up this long chapter just on time for Christmas! I will try my best to update at least once to twice a week. I can write pretty fast as long as I don't encounter any walls along the way. So far it's been good.**

 **Please feel free to drop me ideas or suggestions if u have any!**

 **Next chapter will be based on Daryl's POV.**

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"Ready?"

Everyone nodded in anticipation and on the count of three, Carol lifted the skillet from the grill carefully with gloved hand and removed the cooking lid, half a dozen of golden brown cookies came to view like the most magnificent and magical thing they had ever seen. The kids went into hysterical mode.

"OH MY GOD WE HAVE COOKIES!"

Mike shrieked, both hands on each side of her face almost crying while Molly on the other hand, already had happy tears streaming down as she sobbed into Eryn's arms. Lizzie, Owen and Luke had eyes as big as saucers and mouths gaping wide at the tray of miracle Carol's was holding. Who knew they could still have freshly baked cookies one day, not since the world had ended long ago.

Carol couldn't help but keep smiling widely as the kids went on and on exclaiming their excitement over the cookies. It was all thanks to the last supply run that Maggie had brought back a bag full of baking essentials she had looted from an abandoned cottage they had came across. There were baking bowls, trays, measuring jugs, rolling pin, some spatulas and metal tongs, three crushed boxes of pre-made cookie dough and a rusty sealed tin of margarine which was still good to use. Maggie knew Carol loved to bake.

With help from the kids, they had piled up pieces of rocks they found around the yard into a pit circle and Tyreese had helped to chop up extra wood logs for the campfire. Carol had decided to stick to the traditional method of making fire instead of using the portable gas stove as long hours of baking would gonna use up too much gas and they couldn't afford that to happen. Campfires could only be used when the sky was dark as the clouds of smoke would attract unwanted attention of the walkers or even outsiders towards the prison direction.

Once the burning wood logs were ready, Carol coated the two skillets they had with enough margarine and placed them onto the metal grill, heating it up nicely before placing the pre-made dough that were separated into smaller buns into the pan, pressing it gently flat with the spatula. They could fit five to six small buns of dough into one skillet and covering them with a lid. Every two minute the skillets had to be adjusted around the fire to prevent it from overheating, and the cookies were to be flipped onto a different side constantly. With some trials and errors, they had managed to bake their first two trays of cookies while the sun had completely set in and dark sky dwelled upon them.

"You guys really did baked cookies?" Rick spoke in a surprised tone as he neared the kids and Carol with Judith in his arms, Carl and Beth followed by his side.

Beth was holding half a bottle of baby milk and a clean towel hung over one shoulder. They had came to the yard to check out the cookies baking session upon hearing from Maggie that she had gotten Carol some tools to work her magic on. The moment they stepped out of their cellblock, they could smell fragrance of the cookies right away.

"Yes we did!"

"Mika, Carol did!"

"But we did help as well!"

"Alright you two, we all did made the cookies together didn't we", Carol hushed Lizzie and Mika, settling down the cookies into a single tray to prepare for a second batch to bake.

Beth laughed, watching the sisters gave each other a funny face and turned to look away, crossing their arms. This reminded her when she and Maggie were kids. With their six years different in age, Beth liked to follow Maggie around wherever she go and do everything she was doing. Just like any other younger kids would look up to their older siblings as role models and always wanting to pretend they were as adult as possible. Beth still remember the first time they had baked cookies, she was five and Maggie was eleven, and of course Maggie did most of it and Beth kept on insisting it was a fair share of work.

The moment Carol cued the cookies have cooled down and were ready to eat, the kids immediately jumped in to grab a piece and the adults helped themselves to it. The cookies was stunningly delicious. It wasn't as crispy as what you could get done from an oven and a little dry, but it was the most amazing thing they had tasted since the turn. From rabbit to squirrel and even wild dog meat, they had lived through it all. The only little sweet snack they could find if they were lucky enough, were expired and tasteless chocolate bars or melted candies. They weren't sure if the pre-made cookie dough were past expiry due to the damaged boxes, but it still had a faint taste of the chocolate chips it in. It was already the best they ever had.

"Can I give some to Judith too?" Carl asked, holding up a half eaten piece of cookie.

"Sure of course, but not like this..."

Beth broke a small piece of the cookie into a bowl and crushed it into tiny bits with a metal spoon. She then added a few drops of the baby milk from the bottle, mushing it up to a softer texture so Judith can swallow better. The baby had just started to grow out some new teeth but she couldn't chew with them yet.

"Here, you can feed it to her", Beth handed the bowl to Carl.

Carl beamed at that and said his thanks., walking off to where Rick and Judith was sitting. He sat himself down facing his baby sister as Rick shifted Judith to a better position, Carl scooped a small amount of the mushed cookie bits with the spoon and held it up to Judith's mouth. The baby immediately took the spoon in and licked her lips. Rick laughed as he wiped the chocolate stain on her lips and she giggled, clapping her hands towards Carl as if asking for more.

"She likes it!" Carl said to both Beth and Carol who were all grinning widely.

Carol had started preparing a second batch of cookie dough to bake and Beth had offered to help out. They had opened two boxes of the pre-made dough which could fairly be enough for everyone. She was kneading the dough in a baking bowl to give it a better texture when an idea came to her.

"Guys, let's make special shaped cookies for everyone!"

Carol raised both her brows and kids looked each other, all nodded in agreement and immediately proceed to work. The girls had started shaping out flowers and heart-shaped dough while Owen and Luke were trying to make little robots. Carol had asked to take over Carl to feed Judith and suggested him to go join the other kids. Feeling a bit reluctant, Carl eventually obligated. Beth watched him grabbing a bowl of dough Carol had prepared and found himself a seat furthest away from the other kids. Quietly, he began shaping his dough.

At just fourteenth, Carl had became much more mature than all the other kids. From a boy who used to hide behind Lori or Rick, to a young man who could offer protection to others. Beth still remembered how Carl had jumped in to stand in front of her and Judith when the Governor had a tank drove right through the front gate. When Rick was away, fighting his own demons, Carl had been the one to check on everyone everyday and making sure all the necessary locks were secured. He even cleared the medical room in the prison himself, killed a few walkers while in search of bandages for Hershel. The poor boy had been the one watching his mother suffered through the childbirth and breathing out her last breath. He had been the one to put a bullet into his own mother's head.

Carl had and was forced to grow up from being damaged. Never had any interaction with anyone near his age beside Beth, Carl found it hard to cope with living around with a bunch of kids who had never been out there going through what they did on the road. Majority of the residents of Woodbury had been living under protection and shelter since the turn started. No one can really blame Carl from acting cold and distance to the other kids. But he had been trying. Patrick had came closest to someone he could call friend, but he was gone too soon and Carl was still saddened by his death.

By the time Beth had helped Carol to set out two skillets full of ready-made dough onto the fire grill, the wooden table had already piled up full of little shaped cookie dough of varies shapes, waiting for their turns to bake. From animals to gingerbread man, to an oddly shaped airplane Owen had made. Beth stared down at her own share of dough and thought hard. She could made a whole bunch of little sizes of hearts for Maggie and Glenn as cheesy as possible if she wanted to. Or a cute little bear for Judith even thought it would be mushed up for her consumption. But on the other side of her mind, the part where she had been trying to avoid and almost managed to, for the whole day, it broke through her senses and was going on a loop telling her to make one specifically for a certain crossbow-wielding redneck.

Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon had hugged. Or more like, Beth _HAD_ hugged _Daryl_ _Dixon_. Her face felt like it was on fire all over again. Beth hadn't been able to get it out of her mind ever since that night.

After Daryl had left her cell, her first reflect was to pull shut the curtain of her cell entrance and hide under the sheet. Her face was burning red and she thought she was gonna combust right there. She smacked her palms on her forehead a few times and turned to her side to scream inaudible words into her pillow.

There had been three biggest embarrassments Beth Greene had encountered in her eighteen years of life.

The first when she was in fifth grade, Hershel had her uncle, Benny to come pick her up from school. She hadn't seen Uncle Benny in a couple of months and hadn't known he had switched to a new ride and without checking, Beth had boarded someone else's and that just happened to be her crush dad's car and her crush sitting right in the back gaping at her.

The second time happened in the same year where she had accidentally mistook Maggie's indoor tanning lotion as hair care treatment she had left in the bathroom, Beth ended up with orange hair for the rest of the summer break. Maggie had burst into tears laughing at her younger sister when she saw her hair and Hershel was busy comforting a crying Beth. It was one of the little thing Beth hadn't forgave her sister for.

And the third time, happened in her second year of high school. She had went to a weekend party that she had pleaded Hershel for over a whole month before he had agreed, if she promised not to go overboard with fun and reminding her, she was still underage. Which unfortunately, Beth had mistook a bowl of fruits cocktails as fruit punch and she drowned it down glass after glass. She had ended up drunk and dialed her science teacher, Mrs. Gretel on the phone which caused her to be called in to the principal's office along with Hershel. Beth got grounded for a whole month afterward and was to commit in church community work every weekends.

But when it came to hugging Daryl Dixon, it had topped off all the embarrassments she had ever encountered and could possibly last her a lifetime. And to make things worst, Beth had initiated the hug herself. She had no idea what was she was thinking at that very moment. All she knew was that her body had subconsciously moved by its own and feeling the urge to embrace that man in front of her. Daryl looked so worn out and was clearly affected by Zach's departure. No one liked losing people.

Her fingertips could still almost feel how well sculptured his body was when she had hugged him. Her face was pressed right against his lean chest and arms wrapped around his waist that wasn't too thin or thick. Feeling his warm hands sliding across her arm and cupping at her elbows, it felt so right and comfortable that Beth could had sworn she could continued to stay in the position for the rest of her life.

Beth smacked her head again.

 _His smell._

Daryl Dixon smelled like the woods.

For someone always covered in grease , sweat and walker guts, it had surprised Beth that Daryl had indeed smelled like the woods. The greenly dense of the woods had seem to rubbed off on him after years of hunting in the forest. The big, hearty and dominant scent had Beth fighting all she could to not buried her face in the crook of his neck and inhale all of him. Beth Greene had always been fond of the nature, especially the woods. She loved to spend her time strolling through the woods at the back of their farmhouse since little. She felt the most peaceful in there. And Daryl almost reminded her of home.

"Beth, is your dough ready? We are almost done here with the last batch", Carol's words pierced through her thoughts and Beth flustered.

She spent way too much time running her mind about that one man that she could ever had anything to do with. Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene were like the opposite side of a magnet.

"I'm done here too Caro-" she paused.

Beth felt her face grew hotter by the second tick by as she stared down at her masterpiece. A panic rushed through her. She had absentmindedly shaped the palm-size dough into a shape of what she could mark out...a bike.

When Carol had came over to collect the rest of the dough that were ready for the final batch of baking, Beth had awkwardly tossed hers into the skillet, not caring whether it had gone out of shape. Before she could scramble to cover the lid, Carol was already staring at her dough, looked up at her and smiled - almost too sweetly.

She wished she could buried her face right underneath the soil.

* * *

Beth hadn't been able to decode all the feelings and emotions she had been feeling since that night. The night before.

It was obvious to both Daryl and Beth that they had been avoiding each other the whole day. Maybe the others hadn't noticed but they did. Not like anyone would be expecting either of them to have anything to do with each other anyhow.

When she had came down from the stairs that morning, Daryl was sitting there at one of the empty table eating his oatmeal until he started to notice her presence. He gave her an awkward slight nod and stood up from the table, taking his half eaten breakfast with him and walked out of the block. Beth stood there with a flushed face, almost feeling a tiny bit of disappointment.

She had spent the rest of the day mostly indoor, babysitting Judith, teaching the kids mathematics and helping Sasha and Karen with some housekeeping chores. She knew Daryl would be outside and she had been keeping her distance. Beth was afraid he wouldn't want her anywhere near him.

But she couldn't understand why or how she was acting this way. First of all, she had never felt anything like this around the older man before. Sure she had thought he was pretty cool, riding his bike through the swarm of walkers, his incredible on-sight kill with his crossbow, how he was able to track almost anything down and a capable leader he had became. There was nothing in common between them aside from the fact, they belonged to the same big family.

And here she was standing at the door of tower four where she knew Daryl would be at. Her right hand froze on the handle while her left hand was clenching onto a brown paper bag, with " _Pookie's Cookies"_ scribbled across by Carol as a joke. Beth started to feel totally and horribly regretful for making that damn piece of cookie.

Carol hadn't been blind when Beth had tried lying through that was a faulty piece and she had meant to keep it for herself. The cookie dough had expanded after baking but the shape was still distinctive enough to recognize the curved body and the two wheels. Carol even had prepared melted chocolate from some chocolate bars she had scraped off from to draw design on the baked cookies. The kids were having a whole lot of fun from that while Beth's face had paled when Carol encouraged her to make the cookie look as nice as possible, "it will be cute to see Daryl's face when he sees it", as she put it.

Beth had thought it would be extremely awkward to face Carol for whatever reason it was...since Carol and Daryl had a thing together, at least that was what she thought. But Carol seem more than delighted to see Beth had prepared one just for him and even suggested her to pass it to him herself. More like a threat actually. Or maybe Carol just see Beth and Daryl like an odd pair of siblings that could be put together. What else would anyone think of them as?

"C'mon, Bethy".

She braved herself and pushed the door handle inward. The metal door squeaked loudly and she was sure he had heard that. Making her way up the long flight of stairway, she reached the top of the tower and she could see Daryl through one of the glass panel. He was sitting on a desk that had been pushed right up the window panel so he could overlook the surrounding easily, his back leaning against the wall and his crossbow laying on his laps. Beth knocked on the last door that divided them before holding it open.

"Hi..." Beth spoke shyly, standing at the doorway feeling uncertain if she was allowed to step a foot in.

Daryl looked up from what he was doing, cleaning the bits of walker guts that had got stuck at the edges of his crossbow, "Hey".

"Ermm...Carol and the kids have been baking cookies all day. It's still nice and warm so I've brought you some..."

Beth slowly approached to where Daryl was, feeling his eyes following her steps and as carefully as possible, she stretched out her arm to hand him the bag. Her heart almost got caught up in her throat when he held her gaze for a second before taking the paper bag from her without any words.

Daryl stared at the nickname written on the bag and snorted. He knew that was done by Carol. Unfolding it, he peeked inside. A few pieces of golden crisp cookies still slightly warm and the fragrant of it entered his nostrils. He hadn't smelled homemade cookies in _years._

"The kids made them?" he asked, holding up a cat-shaped cookie to admire before biting a chunk off its ear, "S' good".

"Yeah...Carol and Carl helped out too..." Beth hesitated.

Words wanted to flow out of her mouth to let him know she had baked everything in that bag for him, alone. But she held back. Daryl Dixon wouldn't give a damn whether how much effort she had put in to make some stupid cookies and she was a nobody to matter anyway. Beth Greene was always in oblivion.

When the silent became too awkward to bear, Beth took it as a cue to leave. Turning her back and walked to the door, she paused in her step and then took a deep breath before turning her head towards him again.

"Thank you, Daryl. For coming to let me know about Zach...instead of having Maggie or Glenn to do it..." She confessed.

And with that, Beth disappeared into the corner. The sounds of her cowboy boots echoed down the stairway fast and the squeaking of the metal door closing shut. Daryl was still staring at the door she had just stood seconds ago.

Beth knew why Daryl had came to her instead of her sister or Glenn. They wouldn't bear to see her hurt and broken again. She understood it all. What they see when they looked at her. She will always be that fragile and easily breakable girl who tried to kill herself. No matter how much she tried to prove to them.

When Daryl's eyes had finally shifted away from the door and focused on the bag of cookies still in his hand, he noticed a line of words written on the inner side of the bag.

 _"Beth made all of these herself, remember to chew well and thanks her afterward. - C"_

His eyes darted back towards the door.

* * *

 **What is everyone getting for Christmas?**

 **I just received my first batch of TWD's McFarlane toys including a 10" Daryl Dixon figure it was sooo awesome!**


	4. I ain't no saint

**Hello I'm back! Updating this chapter just in time for Norman Reedus' birthday! Happy birthday to our fav crossbow-wielding hero!**

 **This is chapter is based on Daryl's POV. I don't really have ideas for the next chapter yet so I might need some time to brainstorm on it. Please feel free to send me some suggestion or ideas! Thanks reading my story!**

 **And a happy new year everyone !**

* * *

Daryl sighed for the fifth time that morning. Fingers holding the serious folds on his nose bridge as he closed his eyes, letting out yet another long desperate sigh.

He had been studying the map for what seemed like hours. The big piece of worn-out and creased map with the state of Georgia marked out, which Rick had acquired from one of the supply run. There were red circles and crossed-out markings almost everywhere that surrounded the prison location they were at. They were running out of places they could loot from.

For the past couple of months, they had actuated a routine of heading out for a supply run once to twice every two weeks when necessary, especially with a growing baby and the number of mouths to feed at the prison. From an old school building, to a library, local police station, diners and a few houses on the outskirt of town, they had looted from almost everywhere that was within a half day drive away from home.

 _Home._ Daryl felt his shoulders relaxed from the stressed tension he was holding. Not sure for how long or when he had started to refer the prison as home. As least only to himself.

Daryl had never been anywhere in his life that he could call home. Not even close. Not the shithole he had once lived with his both neglectful parents; his father an alcoholic and abusive asshole, his mother being both and a chain-smoker. Merle had abandoned him and left when he was only twelve and Daryl had returned to their house one day to find it had all burned down by a fire that was believed to be caused by the lighted cigarette their mother had dropped onto the carpet while falling asleep or just simply knocked out drunk. The first ever place he had managed to own by himself was a small old and cramped trailer with holes in the ceiling that he had bought off a junkyard. But after Merle got released from his two years sentence of drugs dealing, he had sold off the trailer and decided to live together with his brother again.

Merle was never a good older brother to him. He was someone who had left him to deal with all the nasty abuses the devil called _father_ had bestowed upon him. Even thought Merle had claimed he did not realized of what their father had did to Daryl as what he had done to him which forced him to run away from home. But Daryl did not completely believed his words. The nasty whipped scars on his back still haunt him like a never ending nightmare. And it will never go away. But Merle was all he had left, the only family he had. Until the governor had stabbed him and left him to reanimate, Daryl had been the one to put him down with his own hands. The days felt even darker after that.

Daryl swept his hand across the map to straighten out the crumpled crease and started to mentally calculated the time and distance that would take them to travel back and forth if they were to risk a further route. He had to make it work. It had to work.

This was the first real _home_ he had ever truthfully wanted to protect. The first _home_ he had felt almost deserving that he belonged to in all his life. A place where he had _family._

An hour later, Daryl had called for an urgent council meeting. The usual members including Hershel, Michonne, Tyreese, Sasha, Maggie, Glenn, Carol, Abraham, Rosita & Tara were all present. And everyone had a frown on their faces as they watched Daryl brief out his suggestive plan and waited for their responses.

"Please tell me that one thing we've been dreading about isn't happening right now..." Glenn mumbled out, sulking down into his chair.

"'m afraid we ain't got choice," Daryl looked over his buddy's shoulder and Maggie's eyes met his. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, Daryl felt sorry.

He knew what she was thinking. After spending so much time with each other, and being an excellent observer that he was, Daryl could read off any of their mind easily. And Maggie was holding back not to plead him to not let Glenn go on to this absolutely risky mission. But he needed Glenn for this to work.

Daryl then found his gaze following Hershel's careful movement as he lifted up the map towards his face so he could read the markings clearer. Hershel was still quiet and Daryl was waiting patiently for his say when Michonne spoke out instead.

"I will go. Doesn't look like we've got any other options left here."

The samurai adjusted her katana on her back and glanced over to Daryl, giving his a smile while he responded back with a nod. Daryl felt a little more relieved by Michonne's acknowledgment. He knew she would always had his back.

If Daryl were to be asked to rank who would be the one he trusted the most with his life to watch his back during a run, it would definitely be Michonne then Glenn. Rick would had obviously ranked first before Michonne but that ex-sheriff already had both hands out of the council group. Glenn had more than himself to worried about now with Maggie in his life. He couldn't be reckless like he once used to be anymore. He had to think for Maggie and everyone knows he put her as his first priority. Which that at times it sort of annoyed Daryl. He couldn't understand how two strangers that just met could fell into such a strong bonded relationship that one was able to die for the other. And not forgetting how the two lovebirds was always outright cheesy and affectionate in front of everyone, even with Hershel watching.

Not that Daryl was some expert in love, hell, he hadn't even come close to know what on earth love is. That four letter word never and would ever appear in his dictionary. Sure he had encounters with women in his life but that was all flings and majority of them he couldn't even remember what was their names or faces. Most of them he had met them in some dirty rundown bars and he was too drunk to care how much makeup they had caked on their skin, the smell of cheap perfume and greasy lipsticks all over his face.

It was always in and out of the bars drunk with a giggling skanky women in his arms as they either paid their way in to some cheap motel or just get on it right at the back of the bar. He hardly kissed any of them. It was unbearable to Daryl of how awful and heavy their perfume smelled and the way they talked, but the alcohol in his system just urged him to get his release done and leave right after, not even looking back. He never called any of them back. There was no point and why would Daryl Dixon wanted to have another burden attached to his life. And those women weren't worth the time for him anyhow.

"We will do as what Daryl said. He knows what he is doing, I trust his intuition." Hershel finally spoke, his eyes glanced to Daryl and a genuine smile spread on his face to tell him he had meant what he said.

Daryl couldn't be more grateful for Hershel being right there. He respected that old man even more than his own mother, when she used to be sober and actually acted like a mother. Hershel was someone everyone in the prison respected and when Rick was the leader, he would always look for Hershel for advices when he got his hands tight. With Hershel declaring his full support for this supply run, Daryl knew the others would follow no matter what. Not that they would question his leadership skills anymore with everything Daryl had done for them. But with the extra support from Hershel, it would boost the confident in everyone to make this plan work out well.

With everyone agreements on, they had all split up into smaller groups of their own for further discussion. Daryl had given them extra time to decide who would volunteer to take on this mission aside from Michonne and himself. He couldn't decide this by himself, not even as a leader.

They gonna had to go on further down to other untouched places to loot for supplies. It would take as long as three days just to get there and another three days back. And no one knew what would be in store for them. The areas could already be looted off and left with nothing by the time they reached, or it could be swarmed with walkers. It was a high risk but they got no choice. Daryl had planned for a team of six to be ideal for this run. It was more people compared to the usual run they had with four but he needed the extra strength to be prepared for any emergencies.

He couldn't make any promises to them that they could all get back safely. But he would give all he had to make sure they did. He ain't a saint but he was their leader. It had took Rick a long way to get them to where they were now so Daryl wasn't going to screw it up. He had to make this mission a success.

Maggie had pulled Glenn over to a corner and they were talking in whispers. Daryl tried his best to avoid Maggie's glances as he did not wish to get engaged in anymore of her talks regarding excusing Glenn for the mission. He understood fairly well how worried she was but he also wished she could agreed with him on the facts that Glenn was strong and skilled enough to survive out there. And Daryl needed Glenn there to get the job done.

His steel-blue eyes darted back to the couple when Maggie practically stormed off from the room with a frantic Glenn running after her. He sighed and Hershel seem to be doing the same. Giving a shrug, Daryl leaned back against one of the bookshelf and crossed his arms.

* * *

The moment Glenn had announced the plan to the rest of the residents at the outdoor dinning area, there were gasps, whispers and shock on everyone faces.

Beth had her eyes glistening as she ran up to hug Maggie and like on cue, Judith started crying out loudly and Carol hushed her in her arms. Rick and Daryl exchanged a few glances and gave each other a nod like telepathically they were able to communicate with one another without needing words anymore. Rick had given him a hundred percent of his support.

It was decided that Daryl, Michonne, Abraham, Tyresse, Glenn and Maggie would be going for the run. Pretty much everyone from the council meeting had been willing to be part of it but they still needed people to stay on guard to look after the prison while the run team was away. Daryl was going to appoint Sasha to join them but Maggie had insisted she wouldn't leave Glenn's side if he was to be going out there risking his life while she was to stay behind fenced in safety. No one was able to argue with her and so Tara and Sasha were to stay behind. Rosita still had her leg injury to recover and Carol was the only one better with handling the kids at the prison.

Daryl pulled up a cancer stick from the cigarette pack and lighted it. He was sat up on the bench table with legs spread, elbows on his knees as he puffed on the cigarette, his eyes watching Rick who was back in his garden patch busying himself with more planting. His eyes never left that man whom had called him as his _brother,_ and he had appreciated that probably even more than Rick.

He was in hesitant if he should talk to Rick about stepping in for leadership while he was away. Not as to ask Rick to takeover leadership once again but in the meantime. If Rick were to be willing to do it for good, Daryl would be more than glad to step back down and stay as his right-hand man. Daryl knew Rick wasn't ready yet and he wasn't going to be pressuring him no matter how heavy the burdens on his shoulder were getting. But with the leader away for a couple of days, there wouldn't be anyone there to guide the people if anything were to happen. Daryl took another long puff on his cigarette and ran a hand over his overgrown hair. He needed to come out with a decision before the run team had to leave in few days time.

When he felt a sudden squeeze on his left arm, he jolted up and saw Carol smiling at him with Lil' Ass-Kicker finally falling asleep in her arms.

"You should take a break. You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Ain't got time for that. We're leavin' in two days time". Daryl exhaled out the smoke away from their direction and turned to softy caress Lil' Ass-Kicker's sleeping head.

"Then the more you should take a break, Daryl. If I see you still sitting here and not laying in ur bed sleeping later on, I'm going to tie you up myself."

Daryl snorted at Carol's warning and she playfully messed with his hair before carrying Judith back to the cell block. He continued puffing on his cigarette when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He didn't had to look up to know who it was.

For the past couple of days, Daryl had felt that same pair of eyes following and watching him whenever he was nearby. He wasn't too bothered by it before but as the days passed by, the gaze on him was getting longer and he almost felt like it was stalking him. Daryl dropped the last bit of the cigarette butt onto the ground and stomped his boots on it before daringly, returning the gaze back to its owner.

As he had expected, Beth immediately turned her head away and looked down on the ground like there was something interesting there. Her hands were clasped behind her back and the light breeze was blowing into her golden locks which seemed to be glowing under the sun ray.

Daryl smacked himself mentally when he realized he was too, had his gaze lingered a bit too long on her. He picked up his crossbow from the bench and moved his feet to the direction of the guard tower instead. With his experienced hunting skill, he felt her gaze back on him again but he wasn't going to look back.

 _Why would I be looking at a seventeen year old girl and to be called an old pervert later on._ He thought to himself and kept walking forward.

Daryl couldn't mark out why Beth was watching him but he wasn't going to go ask her about it. He had nothing to do with that girl and so was it the same for her. The last time they had talked was three days ago where Beth had came up to the guard tower to give him the bag of freshly baked cookies, which he had ate all of them right after she left. He didn't went to say his thanks to her like what Carol had wrote on the paper bag. He wouldn't know what to say to put it as less awkward as possible. The hell he was still puzzled at why was Beth thanking him for in her speech. It had almost felt like in that short amount of time, there were more and more interaction with the younger Greene. Daryl wasn't comfortable with that all that. She was the last person he could think of to have anything to do with him.

Daryl might had think the older Greene sister was much more intimating especially when it comes to Glenn, but Beth was the gentle, the optimistic songbird of the the group. She was like the light filled with nice things and laughter while he was surrounded by darkness. They couldn't clash and never would. A Dixon and a Greene would never fall on the same page, not even after the world had gone to shit.

 _So why the hell was she watching me like that._

He had locked the door and the all the windows at the guard tower just in case if Carol were to really climb her way in to tie him up later on. Daryl knew he wasn't going to get much sleep anytime soon.

* * *

 **Reviews are loved for Bethly!**


	5. Heart Heart Head

**Another quick updates! Back to Bethy's POV in this chapter.**

 **Thanks many for the support of this story! It's my first Bethyl's fic and I am really thrilled by well received responses so far! Now I couldn't stop writing (wipes happy tears).**

 **This is the shortest chapter I've written so far, I will promise a longer chapter next which will be divided into two parts and written in each of their POV. See you guys next week!**

* * *

 _"You're in my heart, in my heart, in my head."_

* * *

The summer in Georgia was getting ridiculous. Even during the night time it could get up to 70 degrees and by keeping the privacy sheet open hoping to let in some night breeze, it was still as stuffy as hell. It was like living in an oven inside the cellblock.

Beth had been flipping around in her cell bunk and she was sweating like she had just ran a marathon. She had donned her thinnest piece of tank top and she wasn't even wearing any shorts to being with. It was too warm for comfort and fortunately her cell was located on the second floor and at the far end of the catwalk, no one would really walk past it unless they needed her for something.

When they had taken in Abraham's group, most of them had switched the cells they had been sleeping in. Rick had remained on the first floor sharing with Carl and Judith but the baby sleep alternatively with Carol sometimes. Michonne and Tara shared one while Hershel had one cell to himself. Sasha shared with Carol and their cell was right beside his. They had preferred to take the first floor as they usually was the first few up in the morning to prepare breakfast and taking the stairs was too much of a hassle.

Nevertheless, the few pairs of couples shared a cell together. Abraham with Rosita, Tyreese and Karen whom had moved in to cellblock C with them about a week ago after Tyreese had brought it up at one of the council meeting. And of course Maggie shared one with Glenn on the second floor but they usually stayed overnight at the guard tower where they had their alternate shift. They only used their cell to keep their belongings or when it was raining or during winter time and the tower was too cold to sleep in.

Both Beth and Daryl had a cell room alone and both were at the complete opposite ends of each other, with four other cells separating them and two were unoccupied. Daryl used to be complaining about being uncomfortable to be "sleeping in cages" and had decided to bunk himself on a sleeping bag right outside his cell instead. Over time, he had slowly gotten more at ease with the environment and finally settled in his own cell. But he was still sleeping with his boots on all the time, a habit of being a survivor out there for so long and always prepared to jump in on any situation at any given time.

After spending a few awful hours of trying to drift herself to sleep, the humidity was still too much to handle. Beth stood up from the bed and approached her makeshift dressing cabinet, taking a rubber band to pull up her hair into a high bun. She stood in front of the small table mirror she had and tugged on her tank hesitantly. She guessed she wouldn't wanted to be alone in that dark and eerie bathroom for a quick cooling shower in the middle of the night so she could always head out for a stroll. But it probably wasn't appropriate for her to be seen outside like this. The white tank top was almost see-through and her dark blue bra was obviously visible. Wincing at the idea, Beth still reached out for her knitted cardigan and put it on along with a pair of cotton shorts. Everyone was mostly asleep in the cellblock by this hour but there were still people awake for their guard duties outside.

Quietly, Beth stepped out of her cell and walked towards the stairs leading down to the first floor. She passed by Michonne and Tara's cell, soft snoring could be heard through the privacy sheet. Then her sister and Brother-in-law's which was obviously empty. A few careful steps and Beth found herself standing outside that one last cell she had to pass by everyday to get to the stairs. She knew the owner wouldn't be in at this hour but she still couldn't help herself but to lean her body forward for a peek.

Daryl's cell as usual, was unoccupied as he had the first watch of the night at the guard tower. His privacy sheet was drawn open and Beth could mark out the shapes in the dark room effortlessly. She had been doing this for a few nights in a row.

The bunk bed was messily made with a small ashtray on it, there were a few clothing hanging around the metal frame and a bucket underneath for dirty laundry. His old crossbow was hanged up on the wall for display while extra bolts, a few knifes were kept well on the wooden desk and a rifle placed upright in the corner of the room. It was simple, nothing fancy like hers with a collections of postcards and vintage decorations everywhere but the whole cell smelled like Daryl himself. Beth felt her face grew hotter and she wasn't sure was it due to the humidity or something else...she shook her funny thoughts away.

The air outside was much cooling than she had expected when she stepped outside. It was peacefully quiet except for a few lone walkers groaning along the fence perimeter. Thanks to the council quick wits, they had came up with a plan to set up more walkers traps to lessen any intruding danger. With the help of about a dozen people, they had managed to dug up three deep wide holes along the forest line and planted twice as many of the wooden spikes and barbed wire outside of the gates. Majority of the walkers had either fall into the holes or got caught up by the spikes, the plan worked out effectively well.

Two days passed by in a blink and the supply run team would be leaving first thing in the morning for their biggest mission yet. Everyone was pretty much stressed out in the past few days especially the run team. The council had called for a third meeting in the last twenty-four hours and Hershel even had persuaded Rick to join them for the last one. They had to be prepared for the worst and Rick was the only one that could take the lead if the worst did happened.

Where the leader never made it back, where _Daryl_ never made it back.

Beth exhaled out a long breath that she didn't know she was holding. She suddenly felt chills and pulled her cardigan closer to her. The sudden image of Daryl lying there, all bloodied and unmoving on the cold hard ground flashed across her mind again and again. Her body felt colder, her head started to spin and there was a twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She had been worried for everyone that would be leaving the front gate, out of safety and into the unknown fate of their destination. She worried for her older sister, for Glenn, for Michonne, Abraham and Tyreese. But when she thought of Daryl, and her mind had only been thinking of that certain redneck the whole day, she felt her breath choking up in her throat.

The last time she had felt anything close as dreading as this was when she watched Hershel got rushed out into the cellblock with one of his leg missing, covered in blood and his paled face passed out of consciousness. The fear that Beth had felt of almost losing her daddy, it was overwhelming and the pain was unbearable.

Beth sat her herself down on the wooden benches before her leg gave in. She took a few deep breath and slowly calmed herself down.

She felt utterly stupid. All of these thoughts haunting her mind were all meaningless. She should know fairly well it wouldn't happen. They would make it back safely. Maggie, Glenn, Michonne, Abraham, Tyreese and Daryl. All of them. They would be back safe and sound. Daryl would come home.

He had to.

"Beth?"

The sudden intruding voice pierced through her thoughts and Beth snapped back to her senses. Daryl was standing a few steps away from her, his crossbow strapped onto his back and cigarette in the other hand. She felt her face heating up once again.

"D-Daryl, hi..." Her voice was almost trembling.

"Ya alright? Called ya twice, ain't gettin' any responses".

"Sorry, I was just caught up in my thoughts".

 _My thoughts and you were everywhere in it, Daryl Dixon._

Beth chewed the inside of her cheeks.

Daryl kept his eyes on her for a few seconds longer, a frown formed on his face as he puffed on his smoke. Beth kept her face down, staring at her knees that was pulled up close to her chest. She felt a weight on the left side of the bench she was sitting and a slight warm grazed on her skin.

Even with each of them sitting at either ends of the bench, even with the significant amount of space in between, Beth could almost still feel the warm radiating off from his body. She felt her heart began to beat a little faster, a fluttering feeling forming in her stomach.

There was a silent except for the sound of the crickets in the background. No one spoke a word and they just sat there. The smoke of Daryl's cigarette floated up into the pitch black sky and she could smell the burning nicotine, but she did not mind.

She did not mind the smell of the cigarette or how chilling the night was getting. She did not mind how the mosquitoes were feeding off from her bare legs, or how her eyelids were finally starting to get heavier.

She did not mind any of those things because right there at the very moment, she found her answer.

Beth Greene had a crush on Daryl Dixon.

The younger Greene was never much of a sentimental person. Not even the little old her. She always had been one to keep all her emotions and feelings to herself which that might had be the reason of her meltdown after watching both her mother and Jimmy slipping away from her life in an instant. When one had endured so much pent up unspoken words and watching everything burning away in a blink of an eye, it was too much for the mind and heart to process it all.

Beth had never truly fallen in love with anyone in her life either. Not even with Jimmy and nevertheless, Zach. She and Jimmy had dated for only three months and two weeks later they had came to notice the world had changed and on the third week, Rick had arrived on their farm with his people. Before she could decide on how her relationship with Jimmy would be heading, the new changes on their farm was a huge distraction in her life.

When she had first met Daryl, she never really dared to look at him in his eyes. They hardly spoken a word to each other either, except for that one time where Rick and Shane had carried a badly wounded Daryl into their house. He had an arrow impaled right through his left rib and a bullet wound on his shoulder that Andrea had accidentally shot by mistaking him as a walker. Beth had helped her daddy to clean and dressed his wounds. It was the only time she had actually spoken to him to comfort his pain and took a good look at his face.

He was a good looking man, Beth admitted to herself. His strong and well-toned arms was the first thing she had noticed. After the farm had burned down and they were all on the road for a long eight months together, shifting from places to places, hiding and fighting for survival through the harsh winter, she had came to acknowledge the critical role Daryl Dixon had held. And also how she had started to take interest of this man more and more.

The way he held up his crossbow, the deadly look he had when he was serious and his now overgrown long shaggy hair, Beth wouldn't believe a couple of months later she would be admitting that Daryl Dixon was one hella sexy redneck. And for heaven sake, she was having a _crush_ on him.

 _That damn hair of his._

Her face was now fully flustered and she was very well aware of how his body was just a few inches away from hers. Her heartbeat was beating so loudly against her ribs that she was mentally panicking if he could hear that.

Beth lost track of how long they had been sitting there in a complete silent. She didn't know such silent could be so comforting. The sudden realization of her feelings for this man right beside her scared her, but she couldn't care much about it at this very moment. Maybe she would start freaking out all about it as soon as her mind cleared up from sleepiness, who knows. But right where he and she was, she wouldn't trade anything for it to end.

The world might had ended a long time ago and so had it just began. Even if the fences of the prison that was shielding them from the walkers came crushing down tomorrow, right here and then, she just wanted this little crush to go on for another minute longer. And that was what mattered the most.

* * *

 **Yes, Beth had finally admitted her feelings!**

 **Now the question is whether Daryl would notice how Beth is acting around him and take the hints hahaha but I doubt he would. Daryl Dixon is a like big dork when it comes to love. And yes, I do plan to portray him in this. It's cute!**

 **This chapter and the title is inspired by the song, "Heart Heart Head" by Meg Myers.**

 **The music video is so beautifully shot and the intensity of the melody, I highly recommend everyone to check it out!**


	6. Intertwined

**This chapter took me 3 days to write it out, I am super happy with how it turned out! I kept on writing and writing and didn't realize how long this chapter was, wow. Hope you guys enjoy as much as I did!**

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Breakfast was ready and spread out onto the table when Glenn and Tyreese had returned from the outside, loading the last bag of essential onto the pickup truck. Bowls of cooked warm oatmeal were served along with fruits salad with lemon as dressing. The sky had barely break into dawn, only a faint line of sun ray could be seen along the horizon but the cafeteria in cellblock C was already crowded with people.

Hershel, Rick and Daryl was the first few to be up that morning, and the rest quickly followed by even though there were still some visible sleep marks on their faces. Glenn even nearly used Judith's used cloth diaper to wipe his face after washing up by the water barrel. A burst of laughters could be heard and Maggie couldn't help herself but joined in to tease her husband as well.

Everyone in cellblock C were already up and had gathered in the cafeteria to have their breakfast. Most of them ate in silent except for the supply run team having a last minute meeting at the same table, before they had to leave the prison and start their mission once the sun had fully raised. The tension in the atmosphere hung heavily over everyone's head like a dark cloud. No matter how many times they had done it, it was always nerve-wrecking for all.

Beth sat herself down at the same table with Carl and Hershel, along with Judith feeding on her bottle in his arm. Judith had just learned how to hold her bottle by herself and Rick had been over delighted. The younger Greene yawned for the second time that morning, sleepily poking her spoon around in her bowl of oatmeal. She was tired and swallowing anything down her stomach was the last thing on her mind.

She glanced over at the table across theirs, her eyes immediately fell on that certain redneck. He had a map spread out on the table and a pen held between his teeth. Beth kept her gaze on the leader and fidgeted in her seat.

"You sure that's a good idea? That place could already be a gone case", Carol spoke a second later, leaning over Daryl's shoulder to read the markings on the map.

"The chopper only crashed in through the middle of the roof, there could still be areas spared from the damage. And besides, taking the route up south means we would be circling by Big Spot, it wouldn't hurt to drop by there again."

"I agreed with Glenn. Big Spot was the gold mine and it could still be. We have enough people to clear out the place too if situation is bad."

Daryl nodded his head at both Michonne and Glenn's words, fingers pulling off the pen from its cap that was still clicked in between his teeth as he jotted down a few more notes on the map. Beth couldn't pry her blue eyes away from how his lips was wrapping around the pen's cap and felt her throat suddenly as dry as a sandpaper. She wanted to get up to grab a glass of water right away and needing to drown it down her throat, but her legs just wouldn't cooperate with her mind at that moment.

 _Newsflash: "Farmer's daughter one-sided affair with the Dixon redneck. Who would had thought?"_

That would probably be how the headline would be if the world knows it and if the news system hadn't died out. She can imagine people from all over the country's tv stations, with big cameras over their shoulders, microphones and recorders crowding at the porch of their farmhouse, white flashing lights of the cameras never stopping and hearing her name getting yelled over and over again, urging her to come out from her hiding. And her name would probably be number one in the search engine on the sites and trending across every social media.

All about her little one-sided crush.

When Beth had woken up on her bed that morning, she had spent half an hour just laying there, staring up at the bottom of the upper bunk. Her memory retraced back to the night before, how fast her heart was beating and had heard herself confessing to her heart in crystal clear, s _he had a crush on Daryl Dixon._ Her face burned, her skin crawled and there was an uncomfortable tugging in her stomach.

It almost felt like that one time when she was little, and was caught by Hershel having her mouth full of strawberries that her mother had specially picked for making fruit jams with it and little Beth had eaten a good half bowl of it. She had thought she could get away with it but she still had her punishment of standing for full three hours in the corner with books piled on top of her head.

But when it comes to the two words, _Daryl Dixon_ , anything and everything in relation of him in her life seemed to have exacerbated into the pit of hell. Nothing make sense anymore.

She was pretty sure Daryl hadn't found out about her little crush on him. Not that they would be bumping into each other that often to sense any awkwardness but if he had, he wouldn't had spend an hour or two or might had been even longer just sitting side by side with her on the bench the other night in silent and gazing up at the stars. Beth would be the worst liar if she hadn't thought it was _romantic_ and one of the best night she ever had. _Thank you insomnia._

Then, Rick walked over to their table and called Carl to help him out with some stuff in the field and Hershel had went to give Judith a change of fresh diaper, Beth realized she was left alone, still playing with her bowl of oatmeal and drifting into her own thoughts of the other man when she heard her sister called out, "Bethy" and her eyes shoot over to the other table in horror. Daryl had turned his attention to the Greene sisters.

"Yes, Maggie?" Beth tried her best to voice out as normal as possible without it being shaky when that one man she had been thinking in her mind the whole day was looking at her direction now.

"Here," Maggie reached into her back pocket and pulled out a set of keys, "the keys to tower one. Glenn and I won't be here for the next couple of days so we thought it would be good if you could take over our job for the time being."

Beth could not mark out whether it was the fact that her sister was finally acknowledging her capability and trust her enough to take on the job or was it because it had managed to distract her from the little panic she had seconds ago. A wide smile beamed up on her face and her sky blue eyes were almost sparkling.

"Really?! Maggie, are you sure?"

"Yes, Bethy. You're all grown up now, I think it's a good time for you to be assigned to a different job and learn something new as well. Glenn thinks so too. It was his idea actually."

In an instant, Beth leaped into the arms of her older sister and exclaimed her appreciation over and over again, not forgetting to shout over Maggie's shoulder to thanks Glenn, who was too, smiling brightly at the Greene sister heartwarming scene. She could felt happy tears forming and threatening to fall from the edge of her eyes and gave Maggie another squeeze before she suffocated her. Beth loosened the embrace and pulled away, her eyes accidentally scanned the room and her eyes met another pair of steel-blue ones. He was looking right at her and so was she. Their eyes locked.

Beth felt her entire body and nervous systems shuts down, just her feet glued onto the cafeteria floor while her ears were straining to listen to whatever Maggie was telling her at the same time. It sounded like she was talking about heading back to the cell that she and Glenn shared to take the rifle she had left there. But before Beth could ask Maggie to repeat her words to confirm her blunt assumption, she had announced to her sister she would be heading there herself to take it and left the room in an awkward rush. Without looking back or responding to Maggie calling out for her.

* * *

They had been driving constantly for three hours straight, the road had cleared out of the woods and they were on the highway down to the next gas station that was still a good 200 miles away. They would had to stock up on more petrol to last them another 500 miles before they could reach the outskirt of the next town and it was a tedious drive. But fortunately, the drive had been going smoothly so far and they only had to drove past a few staggering walkers along the way.

Daryl will be switching his shift on the wheel with Michonne in the next hour or so and he could take his break. He only had about two hours of sleep the night before and it was right after his watch at the tower. He could had allowed Michonne to take the first drive but as someone who was leading the group, he didn't felt it was right. Both of them had took the same car and was driving first in line while Maggie and Glenn was right behind them and Abraham and Tyresse on the last with the pickup truck.

He had always preferred a quiet company during a long drive out for a run and Michonne had always been his number choice when it comes to that. Sasha too actually and of course Rick. Glenn was always too chatty and Maggie was intense when her husband wasn't around her. And Carol was just there to pick on him to see him suffer in embarrassment to her pleasure.

When they had came by Big Spot after they had left the prison, much to everyone's disappointment, the chopper that crashed in from the roof was caught up in fire and seemed like there were explosions. The whole building had burned down for good along with the numerous of walkers surrounding it. Whatever was left, it was devastating to bear in sights.

"We got something up west."

Michonne spoke for the first time in the three hours of driving and Daryl looked over at where she was pointing. There was an old looking double-storey house hidden in among the mass of overgrown greens that could easily be missed out. Daryl winded the window down and gestured a hand out, signaling to the others they were gonna stop the car up ahead.

All three cars pulled up to a stop along the pavement. Daryl and Michonne got out first to scan the surrounding perimeter and raised a thumb up, the others then got out of the cars and loaded on their weapons. The house was a cosy size fit for a small family, made out of washed red bricks and a dark grey roof over it. The windows had been covered up with planks of wood nailed onto it and the area was quiet but they couldn't risk by how it appeared on the outside.

Daryl moved slowly up the narrow steps of the porch while Michonne and Glenn circled to the back of it, looking for a backdoor. Maggie and Abraham waited on Daryl's signal with their gun and machete ready and Tyreese stayed with the cars for lookout and in any case of anyone trying to ambush them to steal their transports.

On his cue, Daryl knocked on the door a few times and they waited. Seven...eight...nine...ten. The seconds passed by and there weren't any sound coming from the inside. Daryl then nodded to the rest and on his cue again, he kicked open the door. The moment it swung opened the rest dashed in. Maggie took the left, Abraham took right and Daryl made his way up the stairs with his crossbow pointed forward, ready to fire at anything that was coming for him. They took a quick swept inside the house and spotted no flesh-eating walking corpse. Affirming the place is secure, Daryl whistled from the door to signal Tyreese to join them and they waited for Michonne and Glenn to gather back at the living room, which they did not. A sudden panic washed over all of them, especially Maggie whose face had paled within a second.

"GLENN!"

"Glenn! Mich!" Daryl yelled out, running after Maggie who had dashed out to the backyard without hesitation. Abraham and Tyreese quickly followed by.

The moment their feet landed on the lawn, relief left their breathe. Both Glenn and Michonne were right there. Michonne was standing over something and Glenn had a knee supporting on the grass, he turned his head towards them and there was sadness on his face. There, it laid a body of an old man, his face flat on the side and a bullet wound was visible through the scalp. There was blood splatters all around him.

"The wound was still fresh. He must had shot himself not too long ago...before we could get here..." Glenn stumbled on his words near the end, shifting his knee and proceeded to stand up.

Maggie came to pull her husband into a comforting hug with one arm and her other hand covered her own mouth as she looked at the body over his shoulder. Michonne was just in total silent, both hands resting by her sides and her head hung low.

"I took a quick swept through the kitchen and nothing was left...," Abraham spoke a while later, leaning his frame against the wall, "seems like he had ran out of food and took the bullet. He looked like a good man."

Daryl's shoulder fell lifelessly at he stared at the cold body. He felt his head began to spin and he lurched a few steps back on his foot. There was a weight tugging at his heart.

They had took in way enough survivors for sanctuary at the prison, they had provided all of them shelter, food and protection. There was only so much they could do and Daryl understood fairly well that they couldn't save the whole world but his mind was racing on the fact that what if they hadn't wasted the trip to Big Spot and stick to their original plan instead, maybe just maybe, they could had saved this old man's life. They were so close and yet the trigger was pulled way too soon. Daryl felt miserable.

When the world had ended, Daryl had been surviving out there along with Merle for months. They wouldn't care for the people they had robbed and stolen from, they couldn't. It was a dog eating dog world out there even before the turn. All they could be concerned for was their own survival. Where to take shelter for the night, where to sleep, what to eat, searching for weapons and how not to get bitten. It was only when they had met Rick and his people, Daryl begun to see this shitty world in a whole different light. Those people that actually cared. Sincerely.

They fought with everything they could to keep each other safe in this world even when they weren't blood. Those feelings were as genuine as it could get. Even when the Dixon brothers had initially planned to rob them off in the first place, but Daryl was the one that suggested they would wait on that. Then one day after returning from a fruitful hunt, Daryl had found out his older brother was locked up on a roof due to his rowdy behavior and had snapped at the ex-sheriff. They had it going off on a bad start but before he knew it, that man was able to gain his trust little by little.

They had saved his life on the farm and Daryl knew from then, they actually cared for even a shitty redneck like him. For someone like him, even he was deserving to be given a second chance. He wouldn't believe he would be calling that man whom had many times, pointed a gun in his face his _brother_. Rick Grimes wasn't blood like Merle was to him, but he was the best buddy, friend, _family_ he could ever asked for. Those with him right there and at the prison waiting for their return, they were all his family now.

And Daryl Dixon wanted to be able to care for them as much as they did for him. As ironically as it might had sounded, he only started to feel _human_ when the world ended. It wasn't all the killings that made him human, but the people they had lost along the way, the harsh situations they had to struggle through to get to where they were now. All of them, together as a family. He had found a new purpose in life and they were the ones who gave him the reasons to keep fighting and wanting to keep them safe. And he cared for them, wholeheartedly. That was what made him human.

"We should give him a burial."

"Yeah, we do." Daryl agreed along with Tyreese and they proceeded to look around for a shovel.

They had dug a hole deep enough for the burial and Michonne and Maggie had helped to wrap the body up in the white bedsheet. The body was lowered into the ground and the hole filled up back with the soil. They found some dying flowers and laid it out on the top of it. It was the best respect one could still do for the dead.

They spent the next hour scavenging through the entire house, there weren't much left but they took what they could find. Maggie and Glenn found some clean bedsheets and pillowcases, Michonne were looting books off the shelves that could be added to their library collection and she even found a couple of old comics Carl would love. It saddened her even more to know the owner must had have children or grandkids. There were also some decent kitchenwares and gardening tools that Rick and Hershel would be pleased with. Abraham, Tyresse and Daryl helped to load the things onto the cars, making sure there were enough space for the rest of the trip.

They had loaded most of the stuff in and were all ready when Glenn came half running towards them, stating there were some wooden planks he found at the back of the house which they could use it to make extra storage shelves at the prison. Agreeing on his idea, Abraham followed him to get the planks while the rest waited at the cars.

Daryl plucked a stem off from a nearby tree and removed the leafs. He stuck the stem into his mouth and began nibbling on it like he would on a cigarette. He would preferred a straw from a hay but this would do for now. He still had half a pack of smoke left in his pocket but he wouldn't wanted to waste it away too soon. Cigarette pack was one of the hardest thing to come by in a world like this. Putting both hands in his jeans pockets, he began kicking his boots at the fallen dried leaves and overgrown weeds in the lawn, when a flick of glimmer caught his attention. Daryl squatted down and his hands moved to the dig at the soil. He pulled out what seemed to be a rock, heavily coated with layers of dried mud but as he scraped the dirt off and held it up against the sun, the light passed through it and illuminated the pale green and blue of it.

"Is that a Jasper?" Michonne asked curiously, looking over at his direction.

"Mm hmm. A pretty darn good one."

"It's a nice color, brings out your eyes." She grinned.

Daryl snorted at the comment and continued cleaning the stone off with his shirt. Glenn and Abraham came out a few minutes later, carrying pieces of wooden planks on their shoulders and the others helped them to load it onto the pickup truck. Daryl hopped onto the passenger seat of the car this time and Michonne took the wheel. Once they were all ready, they drove off from the house and onto the highway once again.

Daryl stared at the stone that was partially cleaned in his hand. He would need to wash it completely clean by a stream if they could find one later on. It was a good size of about half of his palm, with light green and blue around the edges. He held it up against the car window shield where the sunlight could shine on it, the stone looked even bluer by the light. It was almost as blue as a clear blue sky.

 _"It's a nice color, brings out your eyes."_

Michonne's words echoed in his mind as he stared at the stone. He knew she was joking with him, his eyes weren't even that blue to begin with. But he knew someone who did. Those wide blue eyes that always looked so clear and almost reflecting right down into his soul every time he looked at them. Those pair of eyes would definitely blend so damn well with the color of the jasper. Daryl furrowed at his thoughts.

 _No damnshit, baby bother. Now yer havin' a young blondie wrappin' up on yer mind while on aye run? Ya gettin' pathetic yer'know._

Daryl could hear Merle's voice piercing through and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Thanking God at the same time Michonne was too concentrated behind the wheel to notice his movement. The hell was he thinking? He shouldn't even had allowed the Greene girl to cross his mind at all. He was acutely aware she was the younger daughter of Hershel, his and Rick's adviser that they all respected so much. He should be burning in hell and had his brain spooned out for even thinking about her.

Stuffing back the jasper into his jeans pocket, Daryl adjusted the crossbow on his lap and leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms. He closed his eyes in hoping to get some rest before his driving shift but in all his might of protesting against his self-consciousness, Beth Greene kept popping up in his mind.

Her bright wide smile, her clear blue eyes and the damn holy golden ray of her hair. _That damn hair._ That night they had spent together in silent, he watched how her hair was caught up by the wind after she had let it down from the high bun she wore earlier on, and his fingers ached to run it through her long locks. To feel the soft and silkiness of it. And he had set a silent prayer in his mind to wish Beth Greene would let down her hair more often. Daryl flinched and rubbed a hand over his face.

He must had been too tired for his brain not to be functioning properly. He could hear the red hot alarm resonating at the back of his mind.

 _Get a damn grip, Daryl Dixon._

Daryl warned himself and closed his eyes. He needed the sleep badly and they still had a long journey to go. He was the one in lead of the group and he wasn't going to screw it up by some stupid thoughts of his that he couldn't find an explanation for it. Whatever it was, Daryl knew it wasn't going to be good.

* * *

 **As I've mentioned in the first chapter, this story is going to be a slow-burn. Daryl is someone who isn't even sure what love is and he is definitely not going to be clear with his feelings anytime soon. Sorry for that folks, but he is going to stay as dorky as he can.**


	7. Here and Now

**This was by far the hardest chapter to write...I apologise in advance for making our fav redneck having to through that...(hides)**

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Beth lifted the rifle under her chin, her eyes on the scope and the back of it resting on her shoulder. She adjusted it for a little bit more to get comfortable with her position and fixed her eyes on the scope once more, tilting the rifle towards the fences. Her back and shoulder ached, but she tried to ignore the warnings her body was giving off.

Her blue eyes scanned around the perimeter through the scope, watching people moving about doing their chores for the day. Some were clearing the walkers that got impaled by the wooden spikes, stabbing them in the head and pulling the bodies off to toss it onto the back of a pickup truck. The truck would then be driven off to a further distance and the decomposed bodies would be burned away. Others were clearing of the walkers that had fallen into the pits with a long sharpened bamboo stick, piercing it right through their heads before throwing a rope down and pulling up the bodies. Pit after pit, spike after spike, until the clearing of all the walkers caught up by the traps were cleaned up for the day.

Turning the scope to the further left and the field came to her vision. The kids were playing at the field which seemed like Luke was the hunter of the game they were playing, chasing and running after all of them, trying to catch someone on the shoulder. A small group of woman from cellblock D were doing laundry at the side, surrounded with buckets of water and pails of dirty clothing that needed to be washed.

Laundry washing were usually done every twice to thrice a week and each of the cellblocks of residents would take alternate days to get theirs done to avoid any complications of whose belonged to whose. It was always a preferred option to have each individual to get their own laundry done but in cellblock C, Beth, Carol, Sasha and Karen usually were the ones taking care for everyone except for undergarments - for privacy reasons.

Sound of laughters and chit-chatting could be heard across the field and Beth noticed a familiar back view walking towards the group, it was Karen. She wasn't smiling like the others when they were greeting her which instead, she gave a half wave with her hand and sat herself down on the small wooden stool, pulling at a random piece of fabric to start scrubbing on it hastily. She held an expression of somewhat being dreadfully dull and apprehensive. She weren't even listening to what the others was saying to her. Beth understood the reason behind that women strange behaviour right away. Karen was dauntingly waiting for Tyreese's return, for the supply run team to return home. Safe and sound.

And that was what Beth had been doing the whole afternoon, for the past three days.

Three days had passed since the supply run team had departed from the prison. There was still no signs of their returning and everyone was starting to get more and more anxious about the mission.

 _Was this how Maggie felt every time Glenn went out for a run?_

The thought grazed through her mind and Beth stood up straight from the weapon in her hands, she took a few deep breaths and lowered her eye level to the scope once again, for the hundredth time. She couldn't help it. Almost every thirty seconds, she would find herself scanning at the gate for any signs of their returning. The waiting was getting unbearable for her.

Beth hadn't been sleeping well for the past few days either. Her mind was always full of crazy thoughts and the image of Daryl's lifeless cold body haunted her through the night. She had already given in to the fact that the man had been invading her mind constantly for weeks and yet she hadn't been this disturbed by it until now, all because of the negativeness that kept seeping through to her.

And the guilt that had slowly piled up over the days, what Beth used to feel about her older sister overreacting whenever Glenn took longer than expected to come home from a run and all torn-up with bruises, cuts here and there. Beth had started to feel remorseful being in her sister's shoes, going through what she must had struggled with being in this exact position in this guard tower, over looking the exact view through the same rifle scope.

Maggie's distressed yearning for her husband Glenn and Beth one-sided and perplexed feelings for Daryl Dixon.

Her head and heart was all muddled up by this one man and yet she couldn't help it. Beth knew exactly this was all one-sided, everything she was feeling, there was not even a single percentage of possibilities that it would be returned to her. Daryl wouldn't and never would see her for anything more than just a weak, fragile farmer's daughter that hide behind people's back for protection. If she were to be anything else more, she would just be the babysitter, the kid's afternoon home-room teacher at the library, the awkward little girl helping out with random chores around the prison. Nothing more.

There was nothing in common or similar between them to connect two and two together. Maybe Beth had been thinking if he was bored enough from his night watch and decided to keep her accompanied under the stars that night, or was she absentmindedly invading his space once again and was waiting to see if she would take the hint to leave him alone. Beth let out a whimper.

 _Maybe he hated me._

 _He must hated the hug as well._

 _Did he find me annoying to the point that hates me?_

The word _hate_ pierced into her thoughts and Beth could felt the rising heat from the corner of her eyes. She lowered the rifle and placed it upright by the window and moved into the room, walking to the only table in the small room to take a sip from the bottle she had placed there. She wasn't going to cry like a fourteen year old teenager over some boys issues - which she did when she was still a junior in high school and crying over her crushes was a common occurrence. But Daryl Dixon wasn't even a boy, he was a _man_. And Beth found herself flushing over that fact.

Beth didn't know how old Daryl exactly was,but it never came across her mind that he could be _too_ old for her. It never bothered her. He could be twice her age or triple - although she did not think he was that old. But he was definitely a matured and capable man. Strong, independent, muscular. From once whom was just an angry redneck to one with a heart of gold. Daryl Dixon was just someone she doubt she could ever enter his world.

And that just added on to another damned reason of why that man would never have a liking to her. Beth knew how futile her feelings for this man was and she had tried convincing herself out of this conflict but she just couldn't get him out of her head.

She found herself zoning out by her thoughts again, and pushed herself off from the edge of the table she was resting on. She was going to return to her guard-watch position when she heard Carol's voice calling up from the bottom of the tower.

"Beth! Lunch's ready. Are you coming down to join us?"

The younger Greene walked out of the room and looked down from the balcony of the guard tower, Carol was standing underneath with a hand on her hips and another hand shading her face from the blazing sun. Beth started to feel bad for her but she wasn't sure if her stomach was capable of welcoming anything in it.

She couldn't remember when was her last decent meal. She only gulped down a big cup of water this morning when she woke up, not feeling hungry. The night before she ate two slices of saltine cracker and went to bed with barely enough rest before scrambling to the guard tower for her watch again. Beth found her appetite was strongly dwindling over the past few days to the point she didn't even feel hunger for the whole day. And she hadn't been too concerned about it.

"Umm, yeah sure...I'll be down in a minute." She lied.

Carol squinted her eyes as she continued to stare up at the blonde like waiting for Rapunzel to drop her hair from the tower. Beth wasn't too sure if Carol was squinting because of the sun or was she trying to test through her little white lie.

"Alright. But Beth, you need a take a break, your body isn't going to hold on like this."

Beth smiled apologetically without saying anything else and watched Carol walking back towards the cellblock. She loathed herself for making everyone worried for her at a time like this. She wasn't going to be selfish. Staying away from them to hide the dreadful sights of her was probably for the best. And so had she decided to stay at the guard tower for most of the time, except for quick shower and toilet break. The guard room might be small but it have everything she needed there. From sleeping mats to blankets, cushions, candlelight stand, bottles of water and even a few copies of old magazines. It was like Maggie had prepared the room for her to stay.

A few short minutes went by and a kick at the guard door made her jumped up from where she was standing. Beth moved to the door and twisted the knob open, revealing a sweat-stained looking Carl holding up a tray with two bowls of tomato soup and some boiled potatoes at the side.

"Hey Beth", He panted out his words, "I saw Carol came to find you and I thought maybe, you would prefer to have your lunch here instead. So I brought it to you."

"Oh you didn't have to, Carl. Thank you."

"Mind if I join you as well?" He asked shyly, glancing down at the two bowls and looked back at her. A smile beamed on her face for the first time that day.

"Of course! C'mon in. Here, I'll help with that."

Beth took the tray from his hands and moved to place it on the table, hearing Carl had closed the door behind him and came to join her at the table. The tray of food did weight a bit even for her and she was surprised by how he had managed to carry it all the way up here by the flight of stairs. They ate in silent for a while, just the sound of the metal spoons clanking against the ceramic bowls as they each ate their share.

"Are you worried for them?" Carl suddenly spoke and Beth just looked at him.

Of course she was worried. She was _horribly_ worried about them. So worried that she felt the oxygen in the air was getting thinner and she was suffocating, her heart felt tight, her lungs burned, her tears threatening to fall. But she wasn't going to expose that side of her, not to Carl, not to anyone. She needed to stay strong even if it was just a pretend.

"Mm hm". That was all she replied without looking at him.

"They gonna be alright, you know that right? They will come home. And besides, they've got Daryl with them. He'll bring them all back."

The mentioning of that man's name made Beth looked up from her bowl of soup and Carl gave her a small assuring smile and he continued even though Beth still remained quiet.

"Daryl's strong, real strong. He take cares of everyone and he's doing a far better job than my dad...my dad's too weak. Daryl is better than him."

"Carl, he's your dad-"

"You know how he is now, Beth. There's no lying about it. My dad, he still hasn't pull himself back up. He still gets nightmares at night and I've woken up to him crying by himself. He visited mom's grave the first thing he wakes up and the last thing he do before bed. I don't think what he is doing is helping at all...it's just making it worst."

Carl leaned back in the chair when he finished talking, his hand toying with the sheriff hat on the table he had placed beside him. Beth started to think how much he had grown from what he had just said. Her heart breaks for him.

Beth and Carl was four years apart in age, he was fourteen by the time she was eighteen. He might be the younger one among them but he was undoubtedly the stronger and possibly more matured one. She didn't know exactly what he was going through but for the least as far as one could tell, that boy was frustrated.

Even after five long months had passed, where Judith was already able to start holding her own bottle and sitting up on her own and Rick was still barely the same old Rick. He avoided getting anywhere near the council meeting, he locked all his guns away, and if anyone were to go up to him to enquire about anything that got to do with the residents, Rick would refer them to Daryl instead. He was determined to keep his hands off from leadership and no one knows if that could be permanent.

"Carl, no matter how badly you may think of your dad, he's still your dad. You got to respect him. You know he's been trying to get on his feet. He may be progressing slowly but he's still trying. You need to trust him." Beth said to him in all seriousness.

"I guess I will..." Carl nodded, his eyes not really meeting hers.

"I know your dad, he will be fine. He's just as strong as Daryl. He is and I know you are aware of it as well. Hasn't he done so much for us already?"

"You think so?"

"Of course I do. He is Rick Grimes after all." Beth laughed and Carl joined her a second later.

Then, the most remarkable thing happened. For whatever reason that made Beth tilted her head towards the window all of a sudden and she stood up from her seat, her ears trying to pick up something as she neared the glass panel.

"What is it? Is it them?" Carl said in a hurry.

Beth shook her head side to side in slow motion. She didn't know what it was, but _something_ caught her attention. As insanely as it sounded, Beth thought there was something, like a force drawing her to that certain direction.

The direction of the prison front gate.

She dashed out of the room in a second, picking up the rifle to her chin high and looked into the scope. Carl followed after her immediately.

It was quiet outside. Except for the noises of the kids still playing around and the group of woman was already done with their laundry chores. Beth couldn't spot anything through the scope either. It took a few long minutes, then she saw it.

On the furthest road down as far as she could see from the scope, there was two vehicles- one red convertible and a blue pickup truck following behind. Both were speeding towards the prison direction, _fast_.

"Carl, get everyone to the gate!" Beth shouted panicky and Carl took the hint alright away, running off to the flight of stairs.

She scanned with the scope for a second and third time, confirming she wasn't just seeing things, Beth strapped on the rifle onto her back and dashed down the tower. The gun was hitting painfully against her spine as she ran down the slope of hill, but it didn't bothered her. All she could progress in her mind at that very moment was their returning.

 _He is coming back._

She could see Rick, Sasha, Carol and Tara running to the same direction she was heading from the corner of her eyes. They all held the same anxious look on their faces. As they neared the gate, the sound of the speeding engine could be heard. And it got louder and louder until the two vehicles finally came to view.

Carl came running and plunged the key into the lock before Rick and Carol helped to pull open the gate and they all cleared out of the way as the cars drove in.

And everything that happened next was in a state of chaos.

Maggie was the first to get out the convertible, she had been the one behind the wheel. Then Glenn stumbled out of the passenger seat, Maggie ran to help hold him up and screaming something. Abraham, Michonne and Tyreese hopped out from the truck and was running towards the car in front and the others was running up to them.

There was still screaming and shouting going on and everything seemed to be unfolding in slow-motion before her eyes while everyone was moving in full speed around her. Beth was still panting from running and her eyes was searching, her heartbeat was rapid. She looked everywhere, but Daryl wasn't in her vision.

"Get Hershel! Get Hershel, quickly!"

The shouting finally got through to her and her eyes flew to both Michonne and Rick, they were scrambling to the backseats, struggling in their movements as they tried to pull something out of the car. It was then Carol screamed at the sight of an unconscious Daryl being pulled out and supported by Michonne and Rick as they dragged him inside. He was covered in blood.

There was blood everywhere.

In fact, the whole convertible was dosed with splatter of thick and dark red blood and some stuff that looked like pieces of guts caught up on the wheels and cracked windshield. It wasn't a red convertible that Beth had thought, it was silver.

Glenn looked similar to Daryl, his shirt was ripped and there was red everywhere even his hair was still dripping with the dark substance. But Glenn was still alert about his surrounding as he tried to stand but his legs wobbled and Maggie was struggling to hold up his weight until Abraham came to help. He looked just as beat up as Daryl but Daryl looked the worst out of all of them.

Beth couldn't see his face, his long hair was covering it while his head dropped downward as Michonne and Rick carried him by his arms over their necks. Carol took his bloodied crossbow from the backseats and strapped it over her own shoulder, she walked up to Beth and rested a hand on her thin bare arm, leaving a slight stain of red on her skin. She was trembling just like Beth was.

"Beth, you need to go help Hershel. Daryl doesn't look good...he needs the both of you the most now".

Beth nodded and immediately turned to run up the hill, towards the cellblock. She almost tripped a few times due to her wobbling legs but she managed reach the block in record timing. There was a long trail of blood leading directly into Hershel's cell and Beth cringed at the sight of it.

Rick was just leaving the cell when she approached, his shirt was stained with blood. He slowed in his steps to place a hand on her shoulder to give it a brief squeeze before he practically sprinted out of the cellblock again. Beth took a deep breath and braved herself as she stepped inside. Daryl looked far worse than she had expected and she was trying to stop her stomach from hurling.

He was laid out on the floor by the bed, with the blanket underneath. His eyes was closed and drenched hair by sweat and blood sticking all over his face. He had a scratch above his right eye and purple bruises on his cheek. He still had his leather vest on and the dark blue flannel shirt had a big ripped hole across his chest with a few broken button holes. His sleeveless arms was laid by his sides and there was a long angry cut running down from his left arm to his elbow, dark red blood was still oozing out and soaking both the fabric that was used to bind his wound and the blanket underneath.

"Bethy, hold up his left arm. We need to hold it higher to stop the wound from bleeding out too much." Hershel urged her as he hurried to search for his medical tools from the drawers.

Daryl's skin was getting colder by the second, his breathing was slow and his lips was turning bluish. He was losing a lot of blood.

Her hands cradled his arm carefully and gently rested it on her raised knee. Michonne and Carl had returned to the cell moments later and Hershel quickly reached for the piles of towels in Carl's hands and rolled up a few layers to place it right under Daryl's feet to keep them elevated. Michonne came to the side to place the pail of water and was reaching out to clean the wound with a damped towel when Beth stopped her, telling her to leave it to her and she should go take a rest. Feeling reluctant, Michonne stood up and stated before leaving she would be helping the others outside and if they needed any help they could always call for her. Beth said her appreciation and proceeded to clean the wound, wiping off the dirt and dried blood crust around the cut and applied pressure onto it with a hand while the other held onto his wrist firmly.

"Carl, can you find more clean towels or cloth to bring it to me? We will need more than this." Hershel said to Carl and he obliged right away, proceeding to his new given task.

Hershel then got on his good knee beside Beth to attach an IV onto Daryl's injured arm before injecting a syringe of dopamine into the tube. He reminded her to keep her pressure on the wound until it stopped bleeding. When Carl returned once again carrying a mountain of towels and random pieces of cloth, he dropped them onto the bed, passing one to Beth to change the blood-soaked one and she reapplied her pressure on it.

She didn't know long she had held that position, but it was long enough for her arms to start aching and the bleeding had finally stopped. The cut was stitched up afterward, relief left her lips and Hershel gave her a few patting on the head, telling her she had done a good job. Beth could hear the others had gathered outside of the cell, seeking on Daryl's situation and Hershel went out to talk to them, leaving Beth and Carl to clean up the room. There was pile of soaked red towels around them.

"Fortunately, the wound isn't too deep and the bleeding has stopped. I've stitched up his wound, he'll regain conscious soon. He's a tough kid. All he need now is a long rest and he'll be good to go".

"Thank goddess!" Carol exclaimed and Rick murmured something about knowing Daryl was one crazily tough dude.

Beth heard the her daddy speech of reassurance on Daryl's status and she felt her vision started to blur out, and warm streak of tears flowed out from her eyes. She bit onto her lower lip to hold back a sob as she shifted his hair away from his cleaned face, fingers softy grazing the bandage on his brown bone and traced down his stubble jawline.

It didn't occurred to her if Carl or anyone standing right outside the cell could be watching her with her surprising tenderness towards the older man, she was just extremely relief to know that he was safe, alive and breathing.

 _Thank you for making back home, Daryl. It's alright now. Everything's alright._

Beth whispered her words to the man that held her heart. And then it hits her.

She loved this man.

* * *

 **It hurts me too to see Daryl hurt, but I promise he will be fine by next chapter! And what exactly happened during the run will be revealed in next chapter as well!**

 **Chapter 8 will be based on Daryl's POV andddddddd the story will start picking up its pace, a little bit :)**


	8. The Run

**Hello all! I am terribly sorry for the long wait of update, I've been busy over the past weeks and having writer's block isn't helping at all**

 **As promised, here is the chapter where what happened during the run will be explained. This is based on Daryl's POV. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _I sometimes think about the fragility of glass - of broken shards tearing against soft skin._

 _When in truth, it is the transparency that kills you._

 _The pain of seeing through to something that you can never quite touch._

 ** _"Dead Butterflies" - Lang Leav_**

* * *

Daryl had woken up.

It was dark when he finally managed to lift up his heavy eyelids, his vision welcomed the darkness of the cell and his whole body felt sore. When he tried to move his hands, a sharp pain shot right through his left arm. Daryl hissed at the unexpected sensation and looked down to see his arm was heavily bandaged and his head began to spin. He dropped his head back down on the pillow and closed back his eyes, guessing he was probably heavily medicated due the dizziness and his fingers felt numb when he tried moving them.

Even in the almost pitch-black darkness, he could tell it wasn't his cell he was in. The outlines of the shadows were different and there was a faint smell of medicine in the air. Guessing it had to be Hershel's, Daryl looked down at his injured arm again.

He remembered the run team had arrived at their destination much quicker than they had expected by taking an impromptu shortcut route, and when Michonne finally pulled the car into a halt by the high iron-barred front gate, everyone stared out from the vehicles in awe. It was a pretty big place smacked in the middle of greens, surrounded by solid concrete walls with metal fencing on the top. It seemed like an exclusive estates of houses that the rich lived in - well, _used_ to. Ranging from the traditional French Provincial-style to Mediterranean homes. Daryl was more than surprised to know such places actually existed in Georgia where he had lived almost all his life. Not that even if he had known before the turn he would never ever step a foot in there or even let his hand grace over the designer iron front gate. A dirty redneck like him would never be allowed to get anywhere near the people who could eat his weekly expenses worth of food that was equivalent to a single dinner.

There wasn't a single walker in sight and it was eerily quiet. The rows of expensive looking homes stood in dead silence with overgrown foliage covering from the windows to the doors and the exterior walls. Daryl moved a little further in, raised a hand to put two fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. Once and twice. The only responses he received was the sound of the wind breezing through the dead town and the shuffling of footsteps by the others behind him. The peacefulness looked too good to be true. And that, wasn't _normal_ at all. It was highly suspicious it could be a trap that someone had set up to lure in survivors like them, but they weren't going to let their guards down easily and they had came to far to go back empty-handed.

Turning back to the group, Daryl gave his signal and they proceeded to their task. Splitting up into teams of three, each pair was responsible to search through the abandoned houses in alternate fashion, marking the main door with a red " _X_ " every time they finish with one, and load up the cars. It was a much bigger area to cover than any other places they had been before and with most of the houses that once had high-security alarm system installed in them, the main doors weren't easy to break into at all thus making it a tougher job for everyone. Abraham had then decided to break down the windows instead of using the doors to enter.

Everything was going smoothly until Daryl and Glenn came by their fourth houses. No one would had thought or expected the house alarm system could still be working, _efficiently_ , The sudden deafening siren broke the silent, went blaring through the house, down the street before they could get readjust their composure. Daryl felt his blood froze and he turned to face a matching paled expression of Glenn by his side.

The others came sprinting towards them and there was yelling over the loud siren. Daryl first move was to plunge his knife through the alarm system by the door over and over again, desperately hoping to cut it through but the metal hardly scraped at the machine at all. Abraham tried punching it with his fist painfully which did not work either, until Glenn picked up a heavy wooden sculpture of a sun bear, and Daryl took it from him to smash it against the machine. It took a couple of hard hits and alarm system finally cracked through and he pried the casing open with his bare hands to cut off the multiple wires inside.

As soon as the siren stopped, another one came sounding off.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT COMING FROM?!"

Abraham yelled and everyone scattered through the house in a split second, scouting for the source of the alarm. There was sound of smashing and crashing of furniture as the group hastily ripped things apart along the way. It was chaotic.

"No no, guys they're coming! We need to hurry!" Maggie exclaimed, her eyes widened in horror from the window as a herd of walkers that emerged out of nowhere was hungrily approaching towards their direction from down the street, clearly attracted by the sound of the alarm.

They need to stop the alarm, quickly.

Daryl had been smashing through anything that resemble the previous alarm system they had destroyed, but the alarm was still sounding off painfully. He didn't realized his hand had started bleeding and there was trace of blood everywhere he moved or touched. When he came across a large abstract painting in one of room, his hunter instinct told him to check the back and that was what he did. Pulling down and throwing the painting aside, the familiar squarish metal box came to view. Daryl pulled up a gun from the back of his jeans and shot it twice directly at the system and the alarm stopped immediately. But the sound of the herd could be heard as they neared the house. Running down three steps at a time from the stairs, the leader yelled for everyone to gather.

"Glenn and I'll distract the walkers away, the rest of ya hide and keep quiet, wait till the coast's clear, load the cars with what you can find."

"Wait, why does it has to be Glenn again?! I-"

"Maggie!" Glenn abruptly cuts her off. He stood in front of her and squeezed her shoulders tightly with a serious glare on his face.

"Daryl and I are the quickest on foot here and we both can easily hot wire any vehicles, we stand the best chances to escape in a bad situation. We don't have time to waste now and I NEED you to be on the same page with me, please?" Glenn spoke to his wife in a more demanding tone than a plead.

Maggie swallowed back her tears and nodded in silent. She needed to trust to her husband and he was right, they couldn't waste any second away, not at this crucial moment. Biting her lips, Maggie assigned Tyreese and Abraham to use the furniture to block the doors while she and Michonne scrambled to shut all the windows and curtain.

Glenn and Daryl had gone out from the backdoor, bending their body forwards to shield their heads away from the fences where the herd would soon approached. There was a good twenty to thirty of them, dragging their rotten limps towards the house in lazy fashion. Daryl turned to Glenn and pulled out his gun, he started drawing lines and curves with the tip of it on the sandy pavement while whispering to Glenn the plan he had in mind. Nodding in agreement, the two of them kept themselves hidden until the herd was close enough and they jumped out into exposure with guns in the air.

The first gunshot was heard and a second, then a third. As accordingly to their plan, Daryl and Glenn started firing off to cause a distraction and the herd had their sight locked dead on the two and they started to swift their direction towards them, growling away from the house the others was hidden in.

They kept on running and slowed down their paces from time to time to make sure the walkers were still keeping on the track with them as they fired off more ammo into the sky and continued to move forward. When the low roofed of the abandoned warehouse finally came to view, Daryl fired his last round of ammo and started yelling instead. The walkers continued moving towards their direction and when the building neared, Glenn was first to separate from Daryl to break the lock at the front entrance and circled back to the backdoor and did the same. Daryl was the one to lure in the herd right into the building and as soon as the last walker moved in, Glenn would throw shut the door and seal it tight with the cable-tie they had found earlier in the previous house.

As Daryl successfully lured the walkers inside, he quickly made his way towards backdoor that Glenn had left open for him but the moment he slipped one shoulder out, his body was jerked backwards and only then he turned to see the strap of his crossbow had got stuck onto the broken latch of the door and he couldn't get it off him or loosen the strap. The walkers were slowly closing up on him and red alarm started to ring in his head. Daryl was struggling to detach the crossbow from his body but the restraint of the leather strap was refraining him from doing so. In the moment of desperation, Daryl pulled out the knife from its holster on his pants and began slashing at the strap of the crossbow but the thick leather was fairly resistant to the metal and the first walker had moved close enough to alert him to pull a bolt and struck it through its head over his shoulder.

More walkers was approaching him like he was some sort of bait welcomed at the door, it was then Glenn figured out something was wrong and circled back to find Daryl stuck. They pulled and kicked until the latch finally broke off and they both fell forward flat onto the hard concrete. The walkers however had already bursted through the unsealed door and one had its decaying hands gripped tight around Glenn's ankle, pulling him towards its snapping jaw. Glenn struggled to kick off the walker as hard as he could when Daryl managed to scramble off the ground and smashed the walker's head with the end of his crossbow. Pulling on to his shirt sleeve, Daryl helped Glenn up and they ran.

The herd was tailing close behind them as they kept their feet moving and searched around for a vehicle they could escape with. The noises of the previous the gunshots had attracted the other walkers nearby that was staggering towards them in all different directions. They were soon to be surrounded. Panic quickly shot up right their veins.

Daryl took a quick scanning to their surrounding like an eagle hunting for its prey, he immediately spotted what looked like a possible garage shed stood by a single home and he signaled Glenn his finding and both picked up their footing towards the garage. As soon as they neared the shed, Glenn pointed his gun at the electric box by the side and fired a few rounds and doing the same to the roller door. The garage automated door rolled up a few inches, giving them easy access to it quickly as they swung it upwards and to their fortunate relief, a posh looking silver convertible came to their vision.

The car wasn't locked so Glenn hopped on the driver's seat while Daryl took a quick check on the engine, slamming shut the hood once he was done and got in the passenger seat beside Glenn. With expert skills, the car was easily hot wired, the detachable roof was deactivated, sealing them in secure and the engine roared off as the wheels rolled towards the door. Just as it turned around the shed, the herd of walkers was blocking off the road.

They couldn't turn the car around either because there was another herd closing in to them from the back. With no other option available, Glenn stepped on the gas pedal and they drove right into the growling living corpses, smashing and crashing through bodies and limps. The car jerked violently as it wheeled through the parts of the walkers and there was blood and guts all over the cracked windshield.

The remaining walkers continued to prowl towards the car, scratching and snapping their decaying jaws against the metal and glass until the car came to an abrupt stop after the wheel jerked with something stuck underneath. Glenn stepped the gas pedal repeatedly but the wheels refused to move forward. They were quickly enclosed in by the herd and the swarm of rotten bodies piled up against the windows, blocking out the sunlight. Winding down the windows a few inches at each side, both Glenn and Daryl started stabbing their knifes into the heads of the walkers that came growling at the small opening, blood was splattering and flowing down into the inside of the car and onto them.

"There's too many of them. They just keep coming!"

"Don't stop. If they ain't stoppin', I'll distract them out and you run."

"What?! Daryl-"

"I'm bleeding."

It was then Glenn turned to look at his friend, his left arm lay lifelessly by his side and he was only using his right hand to kill the walkers through the window gap. There was long cut running down from his left arm and the blood had seeped through his shirt and pants. Glenn saw how much Daryl had paled in expression.

Daryl realized he was bleeding profusely and he hadn't bothered to bandaged himself up. He didn't had time. They didn't had the time. After since leaving the others, they had been running non stop and he almost got bitten at the warehouse earlier on when he got stuck by the door. The cut had widened during all his hasty movements and pain was getting unbearable but he fought it away. They needed to escape and if they couldn't make it, Daryl would throw himself out as bait and in hoping Glenn would escape unscathed. If he was going to bleed out, it didn't mattered if he got eaten alive now.

Glenn needed to get to Maggie and he understood how much they needed each other. He would sacrifice himself if the situation needed him to. Unlike Glenn, there wasn't anyone out there would cry their eyes out for him. Maybe Rick, maybe Carol, but she had became strong enough to hold back her emotions. Even if he was gone, he knows either Rick or Glenn would step up in his place. The prison would still be standing strong and the people would still be fed. They were all capable of taking care of themselves now and Daryl was proud of it.

Before Glenn could open his mouth to voice out his objection to Daryl's ridiculous plan, a round of gunshots was heard and the walkers started to fall one by one. When the last walker stumbled and hits its head against the windshield, Daryl and Glenn got out of the convertible and Glenn immediately broke into a run.

"Glenn!" Maggie exclaimed her tears of relief and jumped into the arms of her husband.

Michonne and Maggie had came looking for the two of them after they had gotten into safety. The pickup truck came pulling over beside the convertible a while later, both Abraham and Tyreese got out and caught up with them. Daryl nodded in appreciation to them all for making it back for him and Glenn when he began to wobble and was going to drop on one knee when Michonne reached out in time to scoop his arm over her shoulder.

"You're losing a lot of blood. We need to get you back quickly." Michonne said, looking over at his badly injured arm.

"S'right. Have we got what we've need?"

"We lost one of the car and some of the supplies. But we should have fairly enough on the other two."

"We could take this one with us and head out of here. There could be more walkers coming soon after that firing. Daryl, let's patch up your arm first."

Maggie walked over and helped Michonne to shift Daryl into the back of the convertible, his left arm dangling out as Maggie knelt beside him and poured half a bottle of water down his arm to wash off the dirt and walker's blood before wrapping up his wound with a roll of clean bandage from her backpack. Daryl winced at the tightness of the bandage and he felt his head began to throb. He closed his eyes and slumped back down on the backseat as soon as Maggie finished fixing his arm. He was losing too much blood for too long.

Daryl couldn't recall what happened next. He had blacked out and in the midst of regaining back his consciousness, he saw fuzzy images of faces, hearing shouting, hands on his body and a voice whispering words that he couldn't mark out of. Then he completely lost it again.

He didn't know how long he had slept and found himself all fixed up on the bunk of Hershel's cell. Hovering his legs over the bed to rest his bare feet on the concrete floor, he frowned at the missing feeling of cotton and cow's skin under his feet. His boots was placed beside the bed and he wasn't taking a liking to that. Since the turn had started, Daryl never slept without his shoes on. Instead of picking up his shoes, he spotted tray of food by a chair right beside him. The bowl of soup had long gone cold along with a glass of water. Daryl gobbled down the water and realized how dried his throat was. When he tried to stand, his legs wobbled and he fell back down on the bunk again. He must had passed out for too long, his legs felt like he hadn't used them for a long time.

"Daryl, you're awake..."

He looked up to the source of the voice and was just as surprised as the face was gaping at him. Beth Greene stood there with her wide blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. They stared at each other for a few seconds before she moved in a little and let the privacy curtain fall shut behind her.

"How long was I out?" His voice was raspy from tiredness and days of not talking.

"About two days. You slept through after daddy and I fixed you up. Your arm will takes a few weeks to completely heal and the stitches can be removed after ten days. Don't strain your arm in the meanwhile."

For some reason, her voice felt strangely familiar to a voice in his fuzzy memory but he couldn't recall what it was. "Thanks".

He watched her shifting on her feet and her shoulder tensing up as the awkward silent filled up the small room. He was suddenly fairly well alerted that there was only two of them in such a close proximity, in such a confined space. Daryl cleared his throat and spoke again.

"The others? Did they make it back?"

"Yes, everyone made it home. They were all exhausted and slept for a whole day. Glenn told us what happened at the run...it was fortunate that they had made it back on time..." Beth's voice trailed off softy.

Her head was hung low with both hands by her sides, fingers gripping tightly onto her shirt. Daryl couldn't read her expression from this angle but a small sense of intuition was telling him that she was referring to his injury. He was at this point, absolutely thankful for not being able to stand with his feet otherwise he would had to try much harder to fight the urge to pull her into an embrace. Which of course, the thought of it alone scared the wits out of him.

"Oh, you must be hungry. I will warm up the soup and bring it back to you. There's some potatoes left from lunch as well."

Beth moved in closer to pick up the tray and Daryl tensed when he could smell the fresh fragrant of soap from her hair when she neared the edge of the bed.

"Beth," He called out before she could disappeared out from the room. From his vision.

"Tell Hershel I say my thanks".

She smiled at that and Daryl felt his tongue run dry. "I will."

When the privacy curtain opened and closed again, he found himself alone in the cell once more. Daryl let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and ran his good hand through his hair, grimacing at the pace his heart was beating.

* * *

 **Just a short interaction of Bethly in this chapter, the next one will be back on Beth's POV or might be another part Beth/Daryl chapter. Depending how my writing proceed~ (Btw the explanation of how the alarm system could still work, it will be cleared up in the next chapter as well)**

 **On a side note, the return of the mid-season episode really killed me but oh my goodness Daryl Dixon, I might just add rocket launcher into my story next time.**


	9. Good Girl, Bad Guy

**New chapter update!**

 **So I ended up writing this whole chapter in Daryl's POV instead. And some explanations from the previous chapter will be shifted on to the next one as well.**

 **I was trying to rush this chapter out so I apologize for the randomness of it.**

* * *

Five days had passed since the supply team had returned home from the run and three days since Daryl had woken up. He had insisted to move back into his own cell but was kept on Hershel's watchful eyes to make sure he didn't reopen his wound - after he had tried shooting with his crossbow to test out his injured arm and accidentally tore the stitches. Carol was the one who found him with a bleeding arm _again_ , and dragged him back to Hershel and with him ended up having a long lecture from the old man while getting his injury patched up.

Daryl wasn't used to sit still and do nothing. He was told over and over to just sit back and let the others take over his job scope for the meanwhile but it was definitely not working well for him. Tyreese took over his shift at the guard tower that he usually shared with Sasha, Glenn had became the new set of hands substituting his injured one for the people when they actually needed him do any physical work, and they hadn't needed to go on any run at the moment. Daryl felt utterly useless and it was pretty much the worse period of time he had to deal with since Merle's death.

And being _useless_ wasn't the only thing bothering him.

Never in his almost forty-years of life that he had so many pairs of eyes drilling holes into the back of his head when he was doing something or going somewhere. He couldn't walk into the cafeteria's kitchen to pour himself a glass of water without Carol or Sasha snatching the kettle away and do it for him instead. Even the meal he was served was made sure to be diced up just the right sizes for him to consume easily with one hand. And the most terrifying of all was Hershel, always having his eyes set on Daryl and raising his aged white brow at him whenever he was caught doing anything that could cause excessive movement with his injured arm. Hershel Green was without a doubt, the most fearsome living human to date that Daryl Dixon had ever encountered.

He didn't need anyone to _babysit_ him and they were definitely being over exaggerated. He had have worst. The cut on his left arm might be deep but it wasn't anywhere near close compared to having both bullet-wound on the shoulder and bolt in his rib at the same time. And he was certain that the evil old wise man had on purpose, re-bandaged his arm a little too tight for comfort that he could hardly bend his left arm anymore. The tightness was doing good to restrain his movement and Daryl could just imagined the intentional grin on Hershel's face.

With his left arm's flexibility limited, Daryl couldn't strap his crossbow over his back like he usually do or hold it up with both hands. He had many times, dropped his precious weapon onto the ground and Glenn had too many times, caught the moment and fought it hard to not burst out laughing, earning a bothered death glare from Daryl. Even Carl had offered to help him carry or pick up his crossbow when the kid spotted him struggling with his movement.

 _Look at you now, little Darylene. Gettin' babysit like a baby you are. Ain't you? Hah!_

He winced at the taunting voice of Merle's and flipped himself over onto his back on the bunk bed. The morning was breaking in and the shuffling of footsteps and the squeaky noises of cell doors opening and closing could be heard down the catwalk. Most of the people in cellblock C had woken up to start their daily routine and there was Daryl, still laying in his bed staring up at the upper bunk.

He wasn't lazing off, he just wanted to avoid people babysitting him whenever they could and he had learned that he would just stay away from their overly-concerned stares and it would be all good. It had only been three days since he regained his conscious and he already had enough of getting treated like a eight year old who had gotten his first fall from a bicycle. Sure he was hungry and craving for breakfast but he decided he would wait until most of them were done with theirs. He'd rather starve himself for a little while then to endure everyone trying to _mother_ over him.

When the cries of Lil' Ass-Kicker finally echoed down to his own cell, Daryl shifted his limps around the bed and closed his eyes. He was wide awake and yet he had to pretend he was still deep in his sleep. All because he know too well by now, she would be coming in to check on him. Just like what she had been doing the past couple of days, every morning and every night. It had became a routine of hers.

And because Daryl didn't know what to do or what he should do when Beth was in his cell, putting her small soft hand on his forehead to check for any rise in temperature in any case of his wound getting infected. So to avoid the awkwardness, he would pretended to be asleep under her gentle touch. Her touch that was all too gentle that he had swallowed hard when she wasn't looking.

Her footsteps neared his cell and then there was a pause just as he had expected, he could see her from his half-closed eyelid, nudging a little opening of the privacy curtain with a finger and peeked inside to see if he was still asleep before stepping in. Beth tiptoed the rest of the steps in and quietly approached his sleeping form, bended down close enough that Daryl could feel her breathe on his face. Light fingers carefully rearranged his long fringe to the side and the back of her hand slowly rested down on his bare forehead.

He didn't know why such a simple and innocent touch of Beth Greene could stir up a conflict inside him. Her skin felt so soft and warm against his dirty and roughed up one which he had the impulse to pull her hand away, afraid of his skin tainting hers. But it didn't seemed to bother her when she happened to linger there for a bit longer than he was expecting.

Her hand was flipped back and her fingers started to caress his brow bone down to his cheek, in a feathery light brush and then her warmth was gone in a second later. Daryl could feel shivers running down his spine under her touch and it was gone too soon that he almost wished her hand would stay.

The light tapping sound of footsteps then died out and Daryl find himself alone once more. He sat himself up and rubbed a hand over his face, mentally kicking himself right in the mind for his body reaction. His heartbeat was rapid, there were goosebumps down his arms and somewhere down south had started _tingling_. He felt disgusted at himself for having befitting thoughts about the younger Greene.

The smoothness of her skin grazing over his and her careful breathing when she leaned close, the faint sweet smell that he couldn't mark out why or how had radiated off from her body in the close proximity they were in. If he hadn't been sane enough, he could had done something really stupid.

Daryl Dixon wasn't someone who had many past relationships with women before the turn. There was flings here and there but he never remembered those women names the next day after he woke up. The only girl he ever had took a liking to was someone named, Tracy Malton who lived down the street across the small rundown apartment he and his half-uncle Jess Collins had rented when he was sixteen and he hadn't seen Merle for a couple of years due to his bother's military training. Because of his tough childhood and background, Daryl never liked getting close or allowing people to get too close to him aside from Uncle Jess or Merle. But Tracy was one of the very few that actually tried talking to him, offering him fresh loaves of bread from her family's bakery that she had been helping out at. Since then, he gradually grew a fondness over the girl and it all ended too soon when one day, Merle suddenly turned up at their doorstep in his drunken state, yelling and swearing at everyone that passed by and Tracy had witnessed it first hand. Since then, she stopped talking to Daryl and avoided the the whole scary Dixon family altogether.

Daryl had have blamed Merle for a lot of things in his life when growing up, but he also knew fairly well being a _Dixon_ was like a blessed curse the moment he was born into this world. People avoided people like them. Even if Merle hadn't showed up that night, he couldn't imagined if Tracy and him would end up as anything more than friendly neighbors. It was all just a silly old crush he had when he was dealing with raging hormones thanks to puberty and having an opposite sex willing to talk to a kid like him had been real comforting. Nice girls just shouldn't hang out with dirty lowlife redneck like him.

 _Nice goodie O' girls._

And so when he shifted his thoughts back to the younger Greene, the youngest daughter of Hershel Greene and younger sister of Maggie Green _and_ Glenn Rhee's little sister-in-law, he felt his blood had drained cold and his body felt weak all over again.

For all the damned hell, he was highly well aware of how Beth Greene was slowly ripping his sanity apart.

Fighting for survival had been the only thing in his mind all day and everyday for the past few years since the virus had started. Living with strangers and numerous of females hadn't been something he had to stop for a second thought at all. Even with Carol constant flirting and teases as a joke, Daryl hadn't taken it to heart. But when it comes to Beth Greene, he was slowly finding himself spiraling into a hole so deep he might not be able to crawl back up.

And it was wrong in _every_ way possible.

It had been bad for him to start realizing how much Beth had grown. She wasn't a little girl and definitely not a kid anymore. He hadn't paid much attention into that certain aspect of her before but he _had_ started to lately...And it had been worst that a few little innocent touches of her could cause a relentless stir of mixed signals in him, both mentally and physically. Daryl was horrified by it.

On the first day they had met on the farm, Daryl knew she's one of those girls that was brought up well in a good family, goes to church every Sunday, learn piano or sing in a choir and most likely sworn on a chastity pledge. And he knew since then he would stay away from her, from her pureness and light. He had chosen to stay outside at the camp instead of sharing the farmhouse with the others after Hershel had decided they were trustable enough and welcomed them to move inside for shelter. Daryl had figured it wouldn't be a good idea for the Greene's family to have a redneck around the house although there weren't any neighbors left that were still alive and not craving for human's flesh around to judge anymore. He just couldn't get over his self-conscious of being a Dixon.

It was as clear as crystal to him that he shouldn't be anywhere near this Greene girl and yet she had been pushing the boundary he had set up. The more he withdraw, the more she seemed to advance forward like a crashing wave and he was in the midst of getting drowning in it without understanding what was happening at all.

After a few long minutes of running through crazy thoughts and _calming_ himself down, Daryl finally left the cramped cell and moved down to the cafeteria where Carl was sitting at one of the table with Judith in his arms, playing with the red plastic cups.

"Morning, Daryl".

"Gu'mornin'." Daryl greeted back, settling himself down at the same table with the kids and playfully squeezed the baby's chubby cheek. "Hey Lil' Ass-Kicker".

The baby let out a giggle and began drooling down her chin. Carl laughed at his little sister and pulled down the clean towel that was draped over his shoulder to wipe her drool off. Daryl couldn't help but smile earnestly at the baby's purest innocent. He loved Judith just as much as everyone did, seeing himself more like an Uncle to her while Rick being his brother. There was just something about babies that could even make a redneck like him to melt in the heart. Such a young miracle and yet so fragile in this doomed world. He would do everything in his care to protect her. To watch Judith grow up strong, speak her first word and take her first step, it would be more than enough to forget about the brutal world it had became. Judith Grimes was the last hope of everyone. Or even the humankind.

"Oh hi Daryl, you're awake."

The almost-too-sweet voice pierced through his eardrums and he swallowed. Looking up, there stood a glowing head full of halos that he had to blink twice to notice it was just her hair in a lightest shade of blonde possible under the sunlight from the iron-barred window. Her smile that was so blinding as usual casted over his vision. Daryl had to kick himself in the head once again to stop the stupid brain of his from reminiscing what happened earlier on.

"Hey."

His reply was short and he didn't even wanted to look at Beth. In hoping it would come out as him acting like an ass then maybe she would leave him alone. But instead she just stood there, still with that damn bright smile of hers and eyes that were too blue looking at him like she was expecting something more.

"We're having cornmeal porridge for breakfast today. I'll get you some, Daryl."

And she was definitely speaking his name a little too much. Daryl shifted in his seat.

Beth came back with a warm bowl of cooked cornmeal porridge and a glass of water on the tray. She placed them in front of him and subconsciously adding more of his uneasiness as she settled down right across from him, beside Carl and Judith.

"How's your arm?"

"M'fine. Ya'll need stop worryin' so much. I ain't weak."

"I know you ain't weak...but you should really take more rest and be more careful. Daddy said if you reopen your wound again it's going to take a much longer time to heal...and that'd be really bad."

"Mm hm."

Their conversation ended shortly after and Daryl kept his gaze on his bowl of food, knowing Beth was looking at him but he avoided her. Afraid of falling into that trap of her damn blue eyes that he might not be able to get out from.

"Beth," Carl called out, holding out Judith who had her face contorted in discomfort and her whining was breaking into short rattling of cries.

"Oh Judy, do you need a diapy change?" Beth cooed the baby, taking her from Carl's arms and cradled her little body in the warmth of her arms. "Carl, I'll take Judith for a change of diaper alright. We'll be back down soon, ain't we Judyy?"

He watched the ponytail bounces in her steps as she walked towards the stairs that lead up to the second floor. Just when he finally felt his body releasing from the tension he seemed to have whenever Beth Green was around, she paused in her step and turned towards him.

"Daryl," her voice was sharp and she held a persistent look, "your bandage needed a change too, can you come over my cell after you've finish eating?"

Daryl almost choked on his food as he awkwardly looked at her, giving her a hesitant nod and stared at her back view disappearing up the flight of stairs. He didn't know exactly what was going on but one thing for sure he had to persuade himself to admit; Beth Greene was getting dangerous and he might just be digging his own grave soon if he kept on with her pace.

She could be the death of him.

* * *

 **Oh my, just what is Beth doing to poor Daryl XD**

 **Daryl is supposed to be around 35 year old in my story by now. Beth is 18.**

 **Sidenote: Jess Collins was Will Dixon's (Daryl & Merle's father) half-brother, thus making him the brothers half-uncle as well. This info was taken from the game, The Walking Dead Survival Instinct.**

 **Reviews are loved for Bethly!**


	10. Something Beautiful

**I am in love with this chapter myself. I think it has to do with listening to Emily Kinney's music while typing these entire pages out. There are just so many lines of her lyrics that can be related to Daryl & Beth :')**

 **And also, I wanna specially thanks both "An Amber Pen" & "Reignashii" for always leaving me really nice reviews on almost every chapter. I really really appreciated it and you made my day all the time! (toss out heart-shaped "Dixon" cookies)**

 **Thanks many to everyone who have been following this story as well! xoxo**

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The dark heavy clouds loomed over the once inmates-packed West Georgia Correctional Facility, over the sanctuary as they now called it, the home of many survivors who had battled against those monsters gnawing outside the fences over the years. The temperature had noticeably begun dropping during the past few weeks and the greens in the tree had started losing its color.

The crisp of coolness in the air hung chillingly against the skin as Beth pulled her faded sweater tighter around herself, calling over to the field where the kids were playing at. She quickly rushed the kids into the cellblock before the rain started pouring down and was close to having them drenched. It was time for lunch and Carol had prepared cooked bowls of cereal for everyone inside, which all was relieved to get their bodies warmed up from the chill.

A few longs weeks had passed by and the sun was hardly there anymore, often replaced by gloomy clouds and freezing coldness after the day had settled in. They would soon be entering the long months of winter and it was starting to worry everyone. Animals were harder to hunt during colder days and even though the walls of the prison were tall and sturdy, it hardly did any good to shield the residents from the cold.

But mercifully, Abraham happened to found pieces of solar panels right on the roof of the few houses he and Tyreese had scavenged through during the run and that explained how did the security alarm system from the house that Daryl and Glenn had accidentally triggered could still work – which also at the same time, they just weren't fortunate enough.

They had brought back plenty of the panels and Eugene had immediately jumped in to propose a project he could work on. By gathering a group of residents who had suitable past experiences with building things, Abraham stepped up as the head of the construction crew and Eugene was the engineer. They had been working profusely over week after week to fix up the solar panels, in hoping it would be enough to generate electricity throughout the whole prison and the few space-heaters that were stored away for a long time would come in handy for the winter. The prison was definitely becoming more of a community than ever before.

Rosita had started picking up medical knowledge from Hershel and along with Sasha, they had set up classes teaching both firearms and melee weapons combat skills for the people as well. Carol was still giving _special_ reading session to the younger kids in the library and Rick had happened to stumble in at one point on his way to do some reading on agriculture when he found out what she had been doing.

Despite having his hands off from the council for quite some time now, Rick still decided to hold a small meeting between Carol, Daryl, Hershel and himself about the situation. Carol had been a close friend, an important family member and he just couldn't come to any sensible conclusions by himself on whether what she was doing was right or wrong. It was then decided that she would be carrying on with what she had been doing as Hershel had stated, "It's better to be prepared than be sorry. As long as the kids know precisely what they are doing" and that was it. But this was still kept as a secret only within the cellblock C as not to rise any complications with some of the kid's parents.

Everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing and needed to do to help this community to grow and there was Beth Greene, still pretty much lost and doing odd jobs around to pass her time every day.

She wished she had the courage to go up to Rosita or Sasha to maybe take part in one their classes, to learn something more other than the very basic grasp of handling a handgun that Carl had taught her secretly back at the farm and had given her one for self-protection. But when Maggie found out her sixteen year old sister was walking around with a gun in the back of her jeans, she had took it away and insisted Beth shouldn't be holding something as deadly as that. Beth knew how persistent Maggie could get and hadn't bothered to voice out for any of her rights. But she didn't blame her older sister when Beth was once mentally and emotionally unstable enough to cut her own wrist and Maggie was most likely fearing for the worst if she could hurt herself with a gun.

Beth didn't even had a chance to actually fire a gun and killing something ever. The only time she had held a rifle was during the Governor's assault and Daryl had come running to shove one into each of their hands and Maggie did looked at her hesitantly before biting back on her tongue to ask her to drop it. Even in the chaotic life and death situation, when everyone was fighting against the intruders and walkers that had come staggering through the broken down fences, Beth was forced to stand back and was pulled away, with the heavy rifle hanging uselessly down her back.

Uselessly just like Beth Green, herself.

As much as she hated to admit it, she was probably the weakest among everyone despite the fact that her own blood sister was so much more capable and was an outstanding individual since they were little. Beth always looked up to Maggie and wished to be just like her when she was all grown up. The older Greene was perfect in almost every aspect in her life. She was tall, beautiful, she had model-like figure, smart and certainly popular among the opposite sex. Beth knew Maggie had dated many guys before the world ended and even after the end had started, she was able to meet Glenn who then became her husband. It was like God had it all planned out for Maggie, like a fairy tale in a twisted environment but nevertheless, promising her the happy-ever-after.

There was no two ways about how little Beth felt, the tingling of jealously and enviousness she had over her older sister but at the same time, she respected and love her too much that she was afraid of letting Maggie know how she had felt about her at times. She wanted to be like Maggie but she would never be like her.

Beth didn't even have the courage to look at her own reflection in the mirror anymore. Her once soft and glossy hair had long lost its shine. It was all scraggly looking and the bad tangles that her hairbrush could hardly slip through smoothly like before. Sure they had enough water for basic needs like showering but the cisterns often get clogged up from time to time and people had to head outside the fences to clean the clogged water intake hose. It was _always_ risky no matter what they were doing the moment someone stepped outside the safety of the fences and gate.

She only allowed herself to use the shower no more than three times a week. She couldn't live with the guilt if someone had to risk their life to get the hose unclogged because of her and those that worked hard every day and was undoubtedly good with their jobs deserved the shower more than just a babysitter like her. Beth spent majority of her day indoor anyway so she didn't sweat much or none at all. It didn't really bother if she didn't shower for days. She would still clean herself up simply using a damped cloth to wipe over her skin every morning before she was done brushing her teeth with a small cup of water.

Even though the bad practice had led to her badly maintained hair, it saved her from looking at her hideous body for another moment longer. She had gotten a lot thinner since leaving the farm despite the fact they were able to have a decent three meals every day now, Beth still kept to her own strict discipline to only eat enough to not feel her stomach grumbling or when she needed to. If Karen or Carol gave her extra portion of a meal which they usually do, she would secretly share it away with the kids that she sat with. They needed those extra nutrients to grow up unlike her.

When she could hardly keep her own feelings composed, Beth was apprehensive if she was able to do anything more to help out at the prison. The past several weeks already had been erratic.

She had been helping Hershel to nurse Daryl's arm injury and that was a daily task for her; every morning and every night, she would either go to Daryl or he would come to her to have his bandage changed. It started out with her having to remind him throughout the day and she would carry a basket full of medical supplies to his cell. But after a few days, Daryl would just wait outside her cell at the usual timing instead of having her going over. Beth at first thought if he had caught the hint that this would be much more convenient for her and that was pretty sweet of him. Of course, she hadn't thought of it as anything more than just Daryl being courteous.

There wasn't much words exchanged between the two of them. Daryl being the same Daryl, only mumbled through his replies and Beth being the same as pathetic as ever, had to hold back the crazy beating of her heart and trembling of her hands when her fingers grazed over his scorching skin and she could feel her own burning under the simple touch. She prayed every day and night desperately that the older man wouldn't notice her little fidgeting awkwardness as she hurried her movement to finish it as quickly as possible. Otherwise she might just pass out right there and then due to the lack intake of oxygen that she had forgotten how to breathe.

Beth didn't dare to let her mind wander off about if Daryl would ever found out about her feelings towards him. He would had avoided her completely and probably see her as some _good-for-nothing_ teenager that only thinks about dating boys and leaving the hard work to the adults to stress about.

If only she could be a little braver, a little stronger, maybe just _maybe_ , Daryl would see her as something more and not the worthless little girl she has been. But then again, she wasn't exactly certain if that was what she was trying to prove at all or was she actually expecting _something_ like a flicker of hope in Daryl that would he ever-

 _If he would ever-_

"Beth? Beth?"

Carol's voice and the hand shaking on her shoulder jolted her back to reality. Beth responded awkwardly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked up at the older women from where she sat at the cafeteria table with Lizzie and Mika.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just a little tired…" and that was a half white lie.

"I can take over the class and you can take a rest in the meanwhile, would you like that?"

"Oh no, no no, it's fine Carol. I'm really fine now, thank you."

"Are you sure? I don't really mind having extra classes with the kids you know," Carol laughed, "I actually do very much enjoy it."

Beth smiled at her guiltily. She actually did felt a little drained from insomnia she was having for the last couple of nights, her train of thoughts just wouldn't shut away and it seemed to be getting worst. But she didn't think it would be a good idea for Carol to take over her mathematics class, one simple job she was assigned to and if she couldn't even get it done well, she must really be a good-for-nothing.

"I'm good, Carol. Really. Thanks a lot for your concern."

"Alright then, if you need anything else do let me know."

She nodded in reply and Carol moved back to whatever she was doing before, when the sound of voices and footsteps of heavy boots echoed into the cafeteria entrance. The iron metal gate was swung open and a few men from Cellblock D walked in with big wide smiles across their faces, carrying an impressive bunch of dead rabbits and squirrels in their hands. Daryl came in a second later holding two dead possums over his shoulder by the tails and the crossbow in the other hand where the red angry scar was still faintly visible.

"Wow, look at all of these! I see you guys got a really good hunt today." Carol exclaimed in awe and walked up to them to help out with their hunt.

"Got to thanks Daryl for all of these! He's a good teacher, real good hunting skill."

"Daryl's got all the credits. Doesn't he, guys?"

The men continued their praising and giving Daryl's a few pats on the back which he shifted awkwardly, grunting out words stating it was nothing much and it wasn't just his own effort alone. Carol was giving him an " _aww_ " look which he nudged her arm playfully, asking her to stop as he rounded the corner to get a few cooking trays from the shelves, passing them to the other guys so they could start skinning and gutting clean their hunt.

"Make sure to get 'em all clean and neat. We can smoke 'em into jerkies to last through the winter." Daryl instructed them.

The men all sat themselves down at the several tables available and begun to work with their knife over the tray. Mika and Lizzie had been jumping in excitement the moment they saw all the furry animals even though dead, they were standing over the table watching in amazement as the fur got skinned out. Beth was pretty sure they would be asking Carol if she could make little dolls out of those furs for them later on.

The younger Greene suddenly felt the whole room was divided into two, with everyone on one side and she being alone on the other end. She had been quiet and just watching them doing their chores while she sat there like an awkward turtle. Even Carol knew how to make herself useful by simply getting them glasses of water then proceeded to sat herself beside Daryl, taking a clean cloth with her to help him clean the animal-blood stained bolts along with his crossbow, all so naturally. Daryl didn't seem to mind and Beth saw the gentle glances they gave each other with little smiles forming on their lips – yes, even Daryl actually _smiled_. She felt a slight tugging in her heart and decided to leave the room without anyone noticing her.

She felt like she could finally breathe probably as soon as she took a quick turn along the corridor and walked towards the library's direction. Beth was extremely self-conscious all of a sudden, not that she hadn't been feeling this way before but she felt the utmost urge to flee from the room, from the sight of both Daryl and Carol.

She knew she was acting childishly stupid but she couldn't stop the rush of bitterness that swept through her all the way to the very tips of her fingers that made her wanted to cringe away. She was fairly well aware of that special bond between the two of them and yet she was letting it get to her. They had known each other for a much longer time, they were both equally strong and capable and obviously closer in age. They were perfect together, even if what they had between them was just friendship. Beth just couldn't see how she and Daryl could ever be like this. Not at all.

Sure she had been spending more time with the older man the past weeks but that was just a short ten minutes in a day and he _had_ a purpose and reason to approach her. After his arm injury had begun to heal properly and there was no need for wearing bandages anymore, Daryl had stopped his short visit and Beth knew then, there was nothing else left that could connect them together. She already started to miss his presence in her little cramped cell, the usual chair that he would sat on while she tend to his wound and the oddly comfortable silence. She missed all of it.

Feeling herself submitting in defeat to whatever dispute her mind was struggling with, Beth pushed her crazy thoughts away and moved into the aisle of books, pulling out those that she would need for the class later on.

The sound of the library wooden door creaked open and Beth was expecting to see the kids entering when she almost dropped the books in her hand as she turned around. There stood none other than the only person who had been torturing both her mind and soul constantly for weeks.

"Daryl?" Her voice pitched in a surprise tone as she stared at the older man standing at the doorway, blinking her eyes a couple of times to test whether he would vanish away like an illusion.

"Hey, thought you'd be here."

She watched him dragged his feet in, almost in a hesitant pace and the door fell closed behind him. She didn't know how she should react because Daryl Dixon was the very last person she had expected to be here, so she held the books closer to her chest and timidly looked up at him, feeling her stomach began to do a little flipping.

"Yeah, I've a class with the kids later on. Is there anything you need…?"

"There's somethin'…"his words trailed off as he reached a hand into the pocket of his jeans, pulling something out and tossing it over to Beth who scrambled to catch it while trying not to drop the books in her arms. He looked apologetic after that.

Beth felt something cold and solid in her palm as she looked at Daryl in confusion then back at her hand, slowly lifting her fingers away and there lay a piece of jasper in her palm. Her blue eyes widened in astonishment.

"Daryl, this is…." She was lost for words and had too many questions piling up in the back of her throat and so she waited for him to speak instead.

"Found it back at the run…thought you should've it. Ain't got use for it anyway." He spoke in an unruffled manner, the rolling of the shoulder and flick of his hand gesturing to the gem in her hand.

There was something else in his voice that she wasn't exactly sure of whether was it just her mind doing tricks or it had meant something…..

"Thanks," Daryl spoke again before she could process what was going on, "for patchin' me up."

"Daryl…"

She was tongue tied as she let his words sank in, her breath hitched in a second.

Beth looked down at the jasper again, using her other hand to pick it up in between her fingers delicately and held it against the sunlight that had seeped through from the high barred window. The overlapping mix of green and blue of it was like a reflection to her own ocean blue eyes. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "Thank you, Daryl. I love it."

She almost had to swallow back a sob.

"It's beautiful."

* * *

 **Bethly is beautiful.**

 ** _You_ guys are beautiful.**


End file.
